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https://archive.org/details/sketchofresourceOOdixj_O 


SKETCH 


OF  TIIF, 


RESOURCES 

OF  THE 


WITH  A  VIEW  OF  ITS 

MinilCIFM  GOVEUNMZSNT, 


POPULATION,  &c.  <fcc. 


FROM  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CITY  TO  THE  DATE  OF  THE 
LATEST  STATISTICAL  ACCOUNTS 


NEW-YORK  : 


G.  &  C.  CARVILL,  BROADWAY. 


1827. 


Southern  District  of  New- York,  ss. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  14th  day  ot  July,  A.  D. 
1827,  in  the  52d  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  G.  &  C.  Carvill,  of  the  said  District,  have  deposited  in  this 
office  the  title  of  a  Book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim  as  Proprietors,  in 
the  words  following,  to  wit : 

“  Sketch  of  the  Resources  of  the  City  of  New-York.  With  a  view  of 
its  municipal  government,  population,  &c.  &c.  from  the  foundation  of  the 
City,  to  the  date  of  the  latest  statistical  accounts.” 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  “  An 
Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps, 
Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during 
the  time  therein  mentioned.”  And  also  to  an  Act,  entitled  “  An  Act  sup¬ 
plementary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning, 
by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extend¬ 
ing  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching 
historical  and  other  prints.” 

FREDERICK  I.  BETTS, 

Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  New-York . 


Vanderpool  &  Cole,  Printer?. 


PREFACE. 


- •SMkRfcs*— ~ 

In  the  following  brief  sketch  of  a  City,  the 
progress  of  which  during  the  last  thirty-five  years 
has  been  almost  without  example  in  the  history 
of  society,  many  material  circumstances  con¬ 
nected  with  its  general  prosperity  have  been  una¬ 
voidably  omitted.  The  limits,  which  the  author 
has  assigned  to  himself,  and  the  want  of  statistical 
information  have  prevented  him  from  giving  many 
subjects  even  a  cursory  examination,  and  ren¬ 
dered  it  impracticable  to  enter  minutely  into  the 

details  of  anv.  His  aim  has,  therefore,  been  to 
•/ 

present  a  general  view  of  the  resources  of  the 
city,  unincumbered,  as  far  as  possible  without 
impairing  its  accuracy,  with  particular  facts. 


CHAPTER  1 

COMMERCIAL  ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTER. 

CHAPTER  11 

MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  POLICE. 

CHAPTER  III. 

POPULATION  AND  INTERNAL  RESOURCES. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

EXTERNAL  RESOURCES. 

CHAPTER  V. 

FUTURE  GROWTH  ESTIMATED. 


APPENDIX. 


CHAPTER  X. 


COMMERCIAL  ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTER. 

The  origin  of  every  city  may  be  traced  either 
to  commercial  or  manufacturing  interests.  It 
is  the  effect  of  agricultural  pursuits,  before  the 
existence  of  trade  and  manufactures,  to  scatter 
mankind  in  a  distribution,  regulated  by  attractions 
of  soil  and  climate,  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 
While  the  wants  of  life  are  supplied  by  the 
direct  productions  of  the  soil,  and  while  the 
mechanical  arts  and  the  business  of  exchange  are 
unknown,  it  results  from  the  regular  and  irre¬ 
sistible  operation  of  a  natural  law,  that  large 
cities  cannot  exist.  The  condition  of  society 
would  furnish  neither  the  elements  of  their  growth 
nor  of  their  preservation.  It  is  not  until  the 
mechanical  arts  are  cultivated,  and  the  operations 
of  traffic  and  exchange  become  a  part  of  the 
practical  system  of  men,  that  towns  and  cities 
spring  into  life,  and  communicate  to  society  a 
new  and  more  complex  character. 


8 


In  extending  the  view  to  the  growth  and  pro¬ 
gress  of  cities,  it  is  obvious  that  their  prosperity 
depends  upon  the  continued  operation  of  the 
causes,  from  which  they  derive  their  existence. 
If  a  city  has  risen  to  opulence  and  greatness  from 
the  success  of  a  particular  manufacture,  it  will 
decline  to  a  certain  extent  when  that  manufacture 
can  no  longer  find  a  demand  in  the  market.  If 
a  city  has  risen  from  the  success  of  a  particular 
branch  ol  commerce,  it  will,  in  like  manner, 
decline  as  soon  as  that  branch  of  commerce  is  at 
an  end.  But  a  total  decline  of  a  city  rarely 
follows  the  extinction  of  the  cause,  in  which  it 
has  its  origin.  The  accumulation  of  capital  and 
the  divisions  of  industry,  incident  to  every  pros¬ 
perous  city,  become  secondary  principles  of  pre¬ 
servation,  which  continue  to  operate  when  the 
original  principles,  to  which  we  have  adverted, 
have  passed  away.  Thus,  a  large  manufacturing 
town  in  the  interior  of  a  country  may,  after  the 
decline  of  its  manufacturing  interests,  remain 
important  as  a  depot  for  the  prosecution  of  inland 
trade,  in  consequence  of  the  commercial  habits 
which  it  has  acquired.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
commercial  town  may,  after  the  decline  of  its 
trade,  continue  important  from  the  mechanical 
arts,  which  have  grown  up  under  the  influence 
and  protection  of  commerce.  But  this  cannot 
happen  where  manufacturing  pursuits  in  the  one 


9 


case,  or  commercial  pursuits  in  the  other,  consti¬ 
tute  the  whole  business  of  the  citizens ;  and  the 
security  of  every  city  from  the  influence  of  those 
fluctuations,  which  naturally  accompany  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  society,  will  be  in  precise  ratio  of  its 
dependance  on  a  variety  of  interests. 

These  observations  have  been  deemed  neces¬ 
sary,  in  order  to  illustrate  conclusions,  which  will 
be  drawn  in  the  sequel. 

The  city  of  New- York  had  its  origin  in  com¬ 
mercial  interests.  The  first  permanent  establish¬ 
ment  had  a  view  to  trade,  and  was  made  by  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company  in  1609,*  soon  after 
the  discovery  of  the  country,  the  title  to  which  is 
said  to  have  been  sold  to  that  Company  by 
the  discoverer,  Henry  Hudson.f  This  establish¬ 
ment  was  forcibly  broken  up  in  1618,  by  the 
English  South  Virginia  Company,  who  claimed 
title  on  the  part  of  the  English  government,  by 
virtue  of  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabots ;  but  the 
Dutch  were  peaceably  reinstated  in  possession,  in 

*  The  date  of  the  discovery  of  Hudson’s  River,  at  the  mouth  of  which 
the  city  of  New- York  is  situate,  was  long  disputed,  being  assigned  by  some 
to  the  year  1608,  and  by  others  to  the  year  1609  ;  but  it  is  now  settled 
that  the  discovery  was  made  on  the  3d  September,  1609.  See  Chalmers’ 
Political  Annals,  Chap.  XIX.  Yates  and  Moulton’s  New-York,  Vol.  I. 
Part  I.  Sec.  49. 

t  Chalmers,  in  the  19th  Chapter  of  his  Political  Annals,  disputes  the 
sale  of  the  territory,  on  which  New-York  now  stands,  by  Hudson,  on  the 
ground  that  he  could  not  sell  it  as  a  discovery,  because  it  was  previously 
discovered  by  Cabot,  and  that  he  could  not  sell  it  on  the  principle  of  open 
pancv,  because  be  had  never  occupied  the  land. 


I 


to 


1620,  by  a  permission  from  James  I,  under  which 
some  temporary  establishments  were  made,  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  with  water  and  provi¬ 
sions  the  vessels  engaged  in  trade  between  Hol¬ 
land  and  Brazil.  The  growing  importance  of 
the  establishment  induced  the  government  of 
Holland  to  take  it  under  their  protection,  and  in 
1629  a  province  was  erected  under  the  name  of 
the  Province  of  New  Netherlands,  which  re¬ 
tained  its  form  until  1664,  when  its  government 
was  dissolved  by  Charles  II  of  England,  who 
took  forcible  possession  of  the  settlement,  and 
transferred  it  by  letters-patent  to  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  (afterward  James  II,)  from  whom 
it  received  the  name  of  New- York.  In  1673, 
the  country  again  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Dutch  by  conquest,  and  in  1674  was  restored  to 
England  by  treaty.  During  all  these  changes 
the  settlement  retained  its  commercial  character 
and  habits. 

From  this  statement  of  facts  connected  with 
the  foundation  and  early  history  of  New- York,  it 
is  apparent  that  the  causes,  to  which  its  origin  is 
to  be  traced,  have  little  analogy  with  those,  to 
which  the  other  settlements  of  the  United  States 
owe  their  existence.  The  first  settlers  of  New- 
England,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Southern  States 
were,  with  few  exceptions,  refugees  from  religious 
and  political  persecution,  and  their  abodes  in  the 


11 


wilderness  were  selected — not  as  fixtures,  with 
a  view  to  the  general  business  of  life,  but — as 
asylums  to  screen  them  from  the  oppression,  which 
had  expelled  them  from  their  homes.  These 
settlements  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as  con¬ 
secrated  by  the  presence  of  a  great  moral  princi¬ 
ple.  The  first  settlement  of  New- York  was 
without  the  benefit  of  any  moral  impulse  of  this 
nature :  her  shores  were  occupied  by  a  commer¬ 
cial  company,  with  a  view  to  trade;  and  every 
subsequent  addition  to  her  wealth  and  industry 
is  to  be  traced  to  the  operation  of  the  same  cause. 

The  records  of  the  city  during  its  colonial 
dependence  are  so  imperfect,  that  neither  the 
amount,  nor  the  distribution  of  her  wealth,  can  be 
ascertained  with  precision.  But  every  historical 
account  of  her  early  transactions  ascribes  them 
all  to  the  impulse  of  commercial  interests.  From 
some  statistical  details  of  the  year  1078*  it  ap¬ 
pears  that,  with  a  population  of  less  than  3500 
souls,  she  was  solely  occupied  with  trade,  in  which 
she  employed  between  15  and  20  vessels  of  dif¬ 
ferent  classes  belonging  to  herself,  and  rather  a 
less  number,  the  property  of  the  mother  country. 
A  similar  account  of  the  year  1756  exhibits  the 
same  progress  from  the  operation  oi  the  same 
causes.!  At  this  time  she  was  the  market  for 

*  Chalmers’  Polit.  Annals,  chap.  xix. 

i  Smith's  History  of  New-York,  Part  6,  Chap,  iii. 


Connecticut  and  New-Jcrsey,  and  was  extensive¬ 
ly  engaged  in  trade  with  the  West-Indies  and  the 
mother  country.  Besides  80,000  barrels  of  flour, 
annually  shipped  to  the  West-Indies,  large  quan¬ 
tities  of  bread-stuffs,  fruit,  lumber,  animals,  and 
salt  provisions  were  exchanged  with  those  isl¬ 
ands  for  rum,  sugar,  molasses,  &,c.  There  was 
also  a  considerable  trade  in  logwood  with  Hon¬ 
duras,  and  in  furs  with  the  mother  country. 
In  little  more  than  two  months  from  the  9th  Dec. 
1755,  12,528  hogsheads  of  flax-seed  were  shipped 
to  Ireland.  Cotton  was  also  imported  in  large 
quantities  from  St.  Thomas  and  Surinam,  for 
re-exportation  to  the  mother  country.  Thus  it 
appears  that  as  early  as  the  year  1756,  New- 
York  was  considered  as  the  mart  for  the  ex¬ 
change  of  the  agricultural  produce  of  Connecti¬ 
cut  and  New-Jersey  with  the  manufactures  of 
England ;  and  that  a  large  portion  of  her  com¬ 
merce  consisted  in  a  similar  system  of  exchanges 
of  these  manufactures  with  the  natural  produc¬ 
tions  of  the  West-India  islands  and  the  territories 
bordering  on  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  all  of  which 
passed  through  her  as  the  medium  of  communi¬ 
cation  between  the  commercial  parties. 

In  neither  of  the  accounts  above  cited  is  any 
mention  made  of  manufactures  as  ministering  to 
her  prosperity.  The  island  of  Manhattan,  on 
which  the  city  lies,  has  no  facilities  for  manufac- 


13 


turing  pursuits,  and  the  great  natural  advanta¬ 
ges  of  New- Jersey  and  Connecticut  with  regard 
to  manufactures,  will  for  ever  confirm  the  direc 
tion,  which  her  capital  and  industry  assumed 
from  the  first  stage  of  her  existence.  For  agri¬ 
cultural  industry  the  island  has  as  little  natural 
attraction.  It  is  broken  and  sterile,  and  this  con¬ 
stitutional  disability  is  confirmed  by  the  superior 
productiveness  of  contiguous  soils.  With  these 
obstacles  in  the  adjacent  country  to  manufac¬ 
turing  and  agricultural  industry,  and  with  extra¬ 
ordinary  advantages  for  commerce,  it  was  natural 
that  the  character  of  the  city  of  New- York  should 
at  a  very  early  day  assume  a  fixedness,  with 
regard  to  the  nature  of  her  pursuits,  from  which, 
in  the  whole  course  of  her  progress,  it  has  never 
for  a  moment  departed.  In  a  subsequent  chapter 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  a  few  manufac¬ 
tures,  which  have  grown  up  within  the  city;  but 
they  are  such  as  are  independent  of  natural  facili¬ 
ties,  and  therefore  are  likely  to  arise  wherever  there 
are  large  accumulations  of  capital  and  labour. 

From  the  year  1756  to  the  year  1790  the  gene¬ 
ral  progress  of  the  city  in  population  and  re¬ 
sources  was  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  most  other 
cities  in  the  United  States;  but  from  about  this 
last  epoch  it  was  apparent,  from  the  rapid  exten¬ 
sion  of  her  commercial  relations,  that  she  was 
destined  to  take  the  lead  and  gradually  acquire 

3 


14 


the  character  of  a  general  mart  for  the  ex¬ 
change  of  foreign  and  domestic  productions.  As 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  the  causes  of  her  greatness 
as  a  trading  city  are  yet  but  imperfectly  develo¬ 
ped.  She  has  grown  to  her  present  magnitude 
and  importance  almost  solely  by  the  force  of  natu¬ 
ral  advantages ;  and  it  will  not  be  until  her  facili¬ 
ties  for  artificial  communication  are  fully  disclos¬ 
ed,  that  all  the  principles  of  her  future  prosperity 
will  be  brought  into  operation. 

From  a  review  of  the  foregoing  observations 
and  facts,  it  appears  that  the  establishment  of  the 
city  of  New- York  received  its  impulse  from  com¬ 
mercial  causes;  and  that  she  has  for  more  than 
two  centuries  maintained  a  steady  progress  from 
the  developement  and  growth  of  the  particular 
interests,  in  which  her  foundations  were  laid.  It 
is  also  apparent  from  a  consideration  of  her  local 
peculiarities,  that  she  can  never  flourish  by  the 
force  of  any  other  interests  than  those  of  trade. 
Manufactures  are  precluded  by  physical  disabili¬ 
ties.  So  long  as  her  commercial  importance  is 
preserved,  her  increase  in  wealth  and  resources 
will  be  rapid  and  progressive;  but  a  stagnation  of 
her  commerce  will  involve  a  stagnation  of  her 
prosperity,  and  inevitably  lead  to  the  dissolution 
and  decay  of  that  industry,  which,  by  the  variety 
and  spirit  of  its  operations,  excites  and  vivifies 
every  section  of  the  country. 


15 


CHAPTER  II. 


MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  POLICE. 

In  the  early  constitutions  and  laws  of  the  pro¬ 
vinces  and  towns  of  the  present  United  States, 
framed  during  their  colonial  dependance,  there 
are  striking  points  of  diversity,  arising  from  the 
different  nature  of  the  sources,  in  which  they  had 
their  origin.  Those  which  originated  with  the 
sovereign  authority  of  the  mother  country,  are 
marked  with  the  vigorous  spirit  of  her  institu¬ 
tions  :  those,  on  the  other  hand,  which  grew  out 
of  the  deliberations  of  the  colonists,  are  indued 
with  the  milder  and  more  cautious  temper  of 
democracy.  Under  the  charters  of  the  British 
kings  energetic  systems  of  authority  were  built 
up  and  enforced ;  while  the  enactments,  funda¬ 
mental  as  well  as  administrative,  of  the  colonial 
assemblies  were  carefully  guarded  against  the 
admission  of  arbitrary  principles.  The  preserva¬ 
tion,  for  a  long  time  after  the  establishment  of 


10 


our  national  independence,  of  many  of  the  ori¬ 
ginal  charters,  under  which  the  cities  and  prov¬ 
inces  were  first  organized,  has  given  an  air  of 
incongruity  to  portions  of  the  local  jurisprudence 
and  government  of  the  United  States,  which  would 
not  readily  be  accounted  for  fry  those,  who  do  not 
trace  these  diversities  back  to  their  source.  These 
monuments  of  arbitrary  rule  seem  to  rise  up  in 
the  broad  field  of  liberal  government  in  order  to 
mark  the  career  of  free  principles,  and  to  illus¬ 
trate  the  authority  of  opinion,  by  the  force  of  which 
their  influence  is  counteracted  and  subdued. 

The  first  charter  of  the  city  of  New- York  was 
granted  by  James  II.  and  bears  date  the  22d 
April  1686,  about  fourteen  months  subsequent  to 
the  commencement  of  his  reign.  The  following 
detail  contains  some  of  the  principal  features  of 
the  charter,  and  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  under¬ 
stand  the  general  scope  of  its  operation. 

The  corporation  was  designated  by  the  name 
of  the  mayor,  aldermen  and  commonalty  of  the 
city  of  New- York.  They  were  empowered  to 
purchase,  hold  and  dispose  of  property  to  the 
amount  of  the  yearly  value  of  £1000.  The 
royalties  of  fishing,  hunting,  fowling  and  mines 
(except  gold  and  silver)  were  granted  to  them. 
The  mayor,  recorder  and  three  or  more  aldermen 
and  assistants  were  to  compose  a  common  council, 
with  power  to  make,  alter  and  repeal  laws,  which 


were  not  to  remain  in  force  more  than  three 
months,  unless  confirmed  by  the  governor  and 
council.  Discretionary  fines  and  amerciaments 
might  be  levied  by  the  common  council  for  the 
violation  of  their  own  ordinances:  the  remedy,  by 
distress  and  sale  of  the  offender’s  goods.  The 
mayor  and  sheriff  were  to  be  appointed  yearly 
by  the  governor  and  council.  The  recorder, 
town-clerk  and  clerk  of  the  market  were  to  be 
appointed  by  the  king,  or,  in  default  thereof,  by 
the  governor  or  commander  in  chief.  The  mayor, 
recorder,  and  three  or  more  aldermen,  to  be 
justices  of  the  peace  for  the  determination  of  all 
matters,  civil  and  criminal,  arising  within  the 
limits  of  the  city.  Aldermen,  assistant  aldermen 
and  petty  constables  to  be  chosen  yearly  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  votes  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  ward. 
The  mayor  to  appoint  the  high  constable ;  and  the 
chamberlain  to  be  chosen  by  the  mayor  and  three 
or  more  of  the  aldermen  with  three  or  more  of  the 
assistant  aldermen.  Mayor,  aldermen  and  com¬ 
monalty  authorized  to  hold  a  court  of  common  pleas 
every  Tuesday.  They  were  authorized  to  lay  out 
streets  &c.  but  not  to  interfere  with  vested  rights 
of  property,  except  by  consent  of  the  owners. 

In  1708,  Queen  Anne,  by  letters  patent,  con¬ 
firmed  the  above  charter,  and  granted  some 
further  powers,  principally  relative  to  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  ferries. 


18 


On  the  4th  Oct.  1732  an  act  was  passed  under 
George  II.  confirming  previous  grants  of  power 
with  some  important  modifications.  The  follow¬ 
ing  is  an  analysis  of  the  charter  of  the  city,  as 
modified  by  this  act,  into  its  principal  details. 

The  city  was  made  a  free  city.  The  munici¬ 
pal  government  to  be  administered  by  one  mayor, 
one  recorder,  seven  aldermen,  seven  assistant 
aldermen,  one  sheriff,  one  coroner,  one  common 
clerk,  one  chamberlain,  one  high  constable,  six¬ 
teen  assessors,  seven  collectors,  sixteen  consta¬ 
bles,  and  one  marshal.  The  governor  to  appoint 
the  mayor,  sheriff  and  coroner  annually.  The 
mayor  to  appoint  one  of  the  aldermen  his  deputy 
to  act  in  his  place  in  case  of  sickness,  absence  or 
death.  Freemen  and  freeholders  to  choose  the  al¬ 
dermen,  assistant  aldermen,  collectors  and  con¬ 
stables  annually.  The  mayor  and  four  or  more 
aldermen  and  assistants  to  appoint  a  chamber- 
lain  yearly  in  common  council.  The  mayor  to 
appoint  the  high  constable.  The  major  and  re¬ 
corder  and  four  or  more  aldermen  with  four  or 
more  assistants,  to  be  a  common  council,  with 
power  to  make  laws,  which  were  to  remain  in 
force  twelve  months  from  their  date  and  no  lon¬ 
ger,  unless  confirmed  by  the  governor  and  coun¬ 
cil.  The  corporation  had  power  to  indict  penal¬ 
ties  by  fines  and  amerciaments,  or  by  disfranchise¬ 
ment  for  disobedience  of  their  own  laws.  The 


19 


common  council  had  power  to  lay  out  streets  and 
make  city  improvements  at  their  discretion.  The 
mayor,  deputy  mayor,  recorder  and  aldermen 
to  be  justices  of  the  peace  with  power  to  hold  a 
court  of  sessions ;  to  be  justices  of  oyer  and  ter¬ 
miner  and  of  the  goal  delivery ;  to  have  power  to 
hold  a  court  every  week  to  try  all  actions,  real, 
personal,  and  mixed.  The  mayor,  recorder  and 
aldermen  to  have  a  several  power  to  try  all  causes 
with  or  without  jury,  where  the  thing  in  demand 
did  not  exceed  40  shillings  in  value.  The  corpora¬ 
tion  empowered  to  purchase,  hold  and  dispose  of 
property  to  the  value  of  £3000  per  annum. 

In  these  different  grants  of  power,  it  will  be 
perceived  that  very  little  essential  difference  pre¬ 
vails.  The  manner  in  which  the  principal  mu¬ 
nicipal  officers  were  created,  was  such  as  to  de¬ 
prive  the  people  of  much  of  their  proper  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  their  own  government.  From 
James  to  Anne,  they  were  for  the  most  part 
appointed  directly  by  the  sovereign ;  and  by  the 
act  of  George  II.  they  were  indirectly  appoint¬ 
ed  by  him  through  the  intervention  of  the  provin¬ 
cial  authority.  The  dependance  of  the  corpora¬ 
tion  was,  during  the  whole  of  this  time,  secured 
by  the  negative  exercised  by  the  governor  and 
council  over  their  enactments.  The  general  mass 
of  municipal  power  remained  nearly  the  same. 
The  most  remarkable  point  of  difference  was  be- 


20 


tween  the  power  conferred  by  the  charter  of 
James  II.  on  the  common  council  to  make  citv 

J 

improvements  limited  in  its  operation  by  rights 
of  private  property,  and  the  power  conferred  by 
George  to  make  similar  improvements  without 
any  such  limitation.  The  fiscal  powers  of  the 
corporation  were  nominally  trebled ;  but  the 
real  increase  will  be  obtained  by  deducting  from 
the  amount  of  this  difference  the  amount  of  the 
diminished  value  of  money  from  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen¬ 
tury.* 

The  following  changes  by  acts  of  the  state  legis¬ 
lature  and  by  the  constitution  of  1821,  are  modi¬ 
fications  of  the  charter  as  confirmed  by  George 
II.  In  the  view  here  presented  the  minor  fea¬ 
tures  have  not  been  considered,  the  object  being 
to  give  merely  a  general  idea  of  the  municipal 
powers. 

By  the  act  of  9th  April,  1813,  the  city  was  di¬ 
vided  into  ten  wards.  The  electors  of  each  ward 
to  choose  one  alderman,  one  assistant  alderman, 
two  assessors,  one  collector  and  two  constables. 
The  mayor,  recorder,  and  not  less  than  five 
aldermen  and  five  assistant  aldermen  to  be  a 
quorum  of  the  common  council.  A  register 
appointed  for  registering  mortgages,  recording 
deeds,  conveyances,  &c.  Office  of  the  com- 

*  See  IV.  Hume’s  England,  Chap.  7 1st. 


mon  clerk  abolished  and  clerk  of  the  Common 
Council  created.  Office  of  Clerk  of  the  market 
granted  to  the  corporation.  Laws  of  the  Common 
Council  to  remain  in  force  three  years,  unless  en¬ 
acted  for  a  shorter  period  or  unless  repealed  by 
themselves,  and  renewable  at  their  pleasure;  sub¬ 
ject,  however,  to  be  repealed  by  the  state  legisla¬ 
ture.  Corporation  authorized  to  alter  and  lay  out 
streets,  &c.  and  for  this  purpose,  empowered  to 
take  private  property  upon  paying  to  the  owners 
the  value  thereof,  to  be  ascertained  by  commission¬ 
ers  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 

The  Mayor,  Recorder  and  Aldermen  have  the 
power  of  police  judges,  empowered  to  act  as 
conservators  of  the  peace. 

The  Common  Council  are  authorized  to  pass 
and  provide  for  the  execution  of  ordinances 
for  the  prevention  and  extinction  of  fires:  this 
embraces  a  large  class  of  powers. 

The  Mayor,  Recorder  and  Aldermen  to  be 
supervisors  of  the  city. 

The  Corporation  to  cause  sewers  to  be  made, 
streets  paved  and  cleansed,  and  vacant  lots  filled 
in — the  expenses  to  be  estimated  and  assessed  by 
individuals  appointed  by  themselves. 

The  Corporation  to  be  commissioners  of  high¬ 
ways  ; — authorized  to  build  bridges,  make  ditches, 
construct  causeways,  &c.  to  make  wells  and 
pumps.  &c.  to  lay  out  wharves,  piers  and  slips. 

f 


i  Common  Council  to  make  regulations  tor  wharves, 
piers  and  slips. — Convicts  to  be  employed  at  the 
discretion  of  the  Corporation. 

By  the  seventh  section  of  the  fourth  article 
of  the  constitution  of  the  state,  the  sheriff,  register 
and  clerk  of  the  city  and  county  are  to  be  chosen 
by  the  electors  once  in  three  years,  and  as  often 
as  vacancies  happen.  They  are  removable  by 
the  governor  at  any  time  within  the  three  years 
for  which  they  are  elected. 

By  the  tenth  section  of  the  same  article,  the 
mayor  is  annually  chosen  by  the  Common 
Council. 

By  the  eleventh  section  of  the  same  article, 
coroners  are  elected  in  the  same  manner  as 
sheriffs,  with  the  same  tenure  of  office,  and  subject 
to  the  same  power  of  removal. 

By  the  fourteenth  section  of  the  same  article, 
the  special  justices  and  the  assistant  justices  and 
their  clerks  are  to  be  appointed  by  the  Common 
Council,  to  hold  their  offices  for  four  years,  unless 
removed  by  the  county  court  for  causes  specially 
assigned  by  the  judges  thereof. 

By  the  sixth  section  of  the  fifth  article,  the 
recorder  holds  his  office  for  five  years,  unless 
removed  by  the  senate,  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  governor. 

The  charter  of  the  city,  as  it  now  stands,  is  a 
singular  illustration  of  the  changes,  which  hnve 


been  wrought  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  by  their  transition  from  colonial  subjection 
to  national  independence,  and  by  the  general 
progress  of  opinion  throughout  the  country.  It 
is  a  fabric  of  arbitrary  powers,  resting  upon  a 
popular  basis.  Almost  all  the  grants  of  the 
English  kings  are  retained,  and  many  important 
additions  have  been  made  to  the  powers  of  the 
Corporation  by  acts  of  the  legislature.  But,  in 
confirming  and  extending  the  authority  of  the 
municipal  government,  its  organization  has  been 
subjected  to  the  popular  principle  of  representa¬ 
tion,  and  the  citizens  have  directly  or  indirectly 
a  voice  in  the  election  of  most  of  their  officers. 

The  following  instances  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  foregoing  remarks : — 

In  addition  to  the  powers  above  recited,  and 
many  others  not  mentioned,  comprehending 
almost  all  the  relations,  which  belong  to  the 
business  transactions  of  society,  the  Corporation 
have  a  general  power  to  make  city  improvements 
at  their  discretion,  to  appropriate  to  this  object 
private  property,  upon  paying  its  value,  and  to 
tax  the  property  of  the  citizens  to  an  unlimited 
extent,  in  order  to  carry  their  plans  of  improve¬ 
ment  into  effect.*  Under  this  power,  property 

*  The  preservation  of  this  power  is  the  more  remakable,  as  in  the  first 
charter  of  the  city  granted  by  James  II.  it  was  expressly  provided,  that 
private  property  should  not  be  taken  by  the  Corporation  but  by  consent, 
of  the  owner. 


has  sometimes  been  taxed,  by  the  commissioners 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  beyond  its  value  in 
the  market,  and  the  proprietors  have  offered  to 
surrender  the  whole  subject  of  taxation,  to  satisfy 
the  tax  assessed  upon  it.  A  tax  professes  to  be  a 
sum  equal  to  the  rated  proportion  of  a  given 
amount  of  property ;  and  a  tax,  which  exceeds  the 
whole  value  of  that  amount,  is  without  a  prece¬ 
dent  in  any  country.  These  impositions  cannot, 
by  any  collection  of  facts  or  chain  of  reasoning. 


It  may  be  said  that  the  appeal,  which  lies  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State,  from  the  assessments  of  the  commissioners,  is  a  security  against  the 
abuse  of  this  power.  But  the  process  of  redress  is  often  expensive  and 
always  troublesome ;  and  it  is  only  in  aggravated  cases  of  abuse  that  it 
will  be  resorted  to.  The  case  reported  in  20  Johnson  430,  with  others,  to 
which  it  is  unnecessary  to  refer,  indicates  the  propriety  at  least  of  guarding 
the  exercise  of  this  power  by  additional  restrictions.  It  is  not  alone  in  the 
occasional  injury  done  to  individuals  that  the  evil  consists,  nor  in  the 
example  of  an  arbitrary  power  under  a  system,  which  should  be  popular  in 
its  operation  as  well  as  in  its  forms — but  it  is  a  universal  evil,  which,  by 
connecting  with  the  tenure  of  real  estate  a  liability  of  this  sort,  is  a  posi¬ 
tive  diminution  of  its  pecuniary  value;  and  in  this  diminution,  every 
holder  of  real  estate  is  virtually  taxed  on  account  of  the  insecurity  of  his 
possession. 

By  the  law  of  Massachusetts  of  22d  February,  1822,  incorporating 
the  city  of  Boston,  no  other  powers  are  conferred  on  the  Corporation 
with  regard  to  these  objects,  than  those  which  belong  to  the  selectmen 
of  the  towns  throughout  the  state. 

The  law  of  Pennsylvania,  25th  March,  1805,  regulating  the  powers  of 
the  Corporation  of  Philadelphia  with  regard  to  certain  improvements, 
deprives  them  of  all  control  over  private  property.  Commissioners  are 
appointed  by  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  on  petition,  from  individuals 
who  are  neither  residents  nor  landholders  in  the  city,  for  the  purpose  of 
viewing  and  laying  out  the  improvement.  If  their  report  is  confirmed  by 
the  court  at  its  next  session,  other  commissioners  are  appointed  in  the  same 
manner,  and  with  the  same  restrictions,  to  make  assessments  of  damages, 
&c.  &c.  and  their  report  is  submitted  in  like  manner  for  confirmation. — By 
the  force  of  these  guards,  abuse  is  utterly  precluded. 


be  made  to  appear  just :  they  have  been  submitted 
to,  because  they  have  been  made  with  all  the 
prescribed  forms  of  popular  sanction;  but  they 
are  far  more  arbitrary  and  oppressive  than  many 
impositions,  which,  in  the  absence  of  these  forms, 
have  led  to  insurrection  and  revolution  in  govern¬ 
ment. 

By  the  fourteenth  section  of  the  third  article 
of  the  state  constitution,  the  special  justices  and 
assistant  justices  are  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Corporation,  who  have  also  the  power  of  altering 
their  salaries.  The  pecuniary  limits  of  their 
judicial  authority  are  such  as  to  give  them  juris¬ 
diction  in  almost  all  cases,  in  which  the  Cor¬ 
poration  is  a  party  to  suits  for  the  recovery  of 
penalties  incurred  by  a  violation  of  the  municipal 
laws.  The  tribunal  to  decide  these  cases  be¬ 
tween  the  Corporation  and  the  citizen  is,  there¬ 
fore,  created  by  one  of  the  parties  to  the  con¬ 
troversy,  and  the  fundamental  rule  of  natural 
justice,  that  no  party  shall  be  a  judge  in  his  own 
cause,  is  violated.  This  defect  in  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  a  judicial  authority,  which  has  an  imme¬ 
diate  control  over  the  persons  and  property  ot 
the  citizens,  has,  perhaps,  produced  no  inconve¬ 
nience  whatever ;  but  in  less  virtuous  times  a 
corrupt  influence  might  be  acquired  and  exercised 
to  the  detriment  of  the  public  and  of  individuals ; 
and  against  the  possibility  of  such  abuses  it  is 


the  business  of  legislation  to  guard,  by  every 
possible  precaution.  In  fundamental  provisions, 
which  are  less  liable  to  change  than  the  ordinary 
legislation  of  government,  these  precautions  are 
the  more  necessary;  and  in  the  case  under 
consideration,  the  limited  tenure  of  office  affords 
facilities  for  management  and  influence,  which 
should  be  counteracted  by  the  conditions  of  the 
office  itself. 

Under  the  law  of  9th  April,  1813,  a  police 
office  is  established,  and  the  police  judges,  (other¬ 
wise  called  special  justices,)  are  authorized  to 
exercise  certain  powers,  which  belong  to  aider- 
men  when  out  of  sessions.  By  an  act  of  9th 
February,  1788,  justices  of  the  peace  are  au¬ 
thorized  to  commit,  for  sixty  days,  any  vagrant, 
disorderly  person,  &c.  on  their  own  view,  without 
a  trial  by  jury.  By  an  act  of  3d  March,  1820, 
the  term  of  commitment  is  extended  to  six 
months.  Thus,  the  police  justices  have  the  power 
of  taking  up  and  imprisoning  any  individual  at 
their  discretion,  without  the  form  of  trial  by 
jury.  The  constitution  of  the  state  of  New- 
York*  provides  for  the  exercise  of  this  power, 
by  subjecting  to  trial  by  jury,  those  cases  only  in 
which  that  form  of  trial  “has  been  heretofore 
used.  The  powers  conferred  by  previouslv 
existing  laws  are,  therefore,  confirmed  by  this 


*  Article  7th. 


27 


specification  of  cases.  This  provision  is  in  direct 
collision  with  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,*  which  declares  that  “the  trial  of  all 
crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be 
by  jury.”  That  so  arbitrary  a  power  has  been 
retained  even  by  legislative  provision,  and  that 
its  exercise  has  been  tolerated  by  those  who  are 
subject  to  its  operation,  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  the  supposition  that  it  has  not  been  abused, 
and  that  the  authority  of  opinion  has  been  such 
as  to  restrict  it  to  cases,  wherein  the  rules  of 
justice  have  been  rigidly  observed.  But  a  pro¬ 
vision,  which  is  defective  in  principle,  is  not  the 
less  objectionable  because  it  has  not  been  oppres¬ 
sive  or  tyrannical  in  practice.  The  abuse  of  a 
system  should  not  only  be  restrained  by  the 
external  influence  of  opinion,  but  it  should  be 
absolutely  precluded  by  the  force  of  provisions 
inherent  in  itself. 

The  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  these 
defects  in  the  city  government  will  be  remedied. 
That  they  will  produce  any  serious  inconvenience 
in  the  existing  state  of  public  opinion  is  not  to 
be  apprehended ;  but  the  first  stretch  of  authority 
beyond  the  natural  limits  of  that  responsibility, 
which  gives  a  character  to  all  our  public  institu¬ 
tions,  will  be  the  signal  for  an  interposition  of 
the  people,  and  for  a  total  reformation  of  the 


Section  ii,  Article 


28 


municipal  government  according  to  a  more  popu¬ 
lar  standard. 

It  is  a  remarkable  characteristic  of  an  enlight¬ 
ened  state  of  public  opinion,  though  resulting 
from  the  operation  of  obvious  principles,  that 
a  greater  degree  of  power  may  be  introduced 
into  a  frame  of  government,  which  has  its  origin 
in  the  people  themselves;  and  that  this  power 
may  be  exercised  with  less  public  excitement 
and  discontent,  than  a  similar  degree  of  power 
under  a  system,  which  has  its  origin  in  an  irre¬ 
sponsible  source.  In  the  former  case,  every 
measure,  which  is  adopted  in  pursuance  of  the 
constitutional  powers  of  government,  is  regarded 
by  those,  who  are  subject  to  its  operation,  as 
emanating  from  themselves ;  and  its  inconve¬ 
nience  or  severity  is  mitigated  by  the  considera¬ 
tion,  that  it  is  not  imposed  by  any  arbitrary 
interference  with  their  own  prerogatives.  In 
the  latter  case,  every  act  of  government,  whether 
arbitrary  or  otherwise,  is  viewed  as  emanating 
from  an  illegitimate  source,  and  becomes  an 
object  of  as  much  odium  as  a  despotic  act 
committed  without  any  of  the  forms  of  popular 
sanction.  Accordingly,  it  has  sometimes  hap¬ 
pened  that  a  power  when  exercised  under  an 
arbitrary  system  has  produced  violent  opposition, 
and,  on  a  reform  of  government,  has  been  adopted 
and  exercised  bv  the  reformers  themselves :  show- 

V 


29 


mg  a  spirit  of  hostility  less  to  the  substance  of 
the  power,  than  to  the  principle  in  which  it  has 
its  origin.  To  these  causes  may  be  traced  the 
steady  existence  ot  a  form  of  government  so 
arbitrary  in  its  spirit  as  that  of  the  city  of  New- 
York,  while  almost  every  other  constitution  and 
charter  in  the  United  States  has  been  so  modi¬ 
fied  as  to  meet  the  enlightened  character  of  the 
people,  and  to  keep  pace  with  the  general  march 
of  opinion.  The  power  of  electing  their  princi¬ 
pal  officers,  and  the  responsibility  thereby  secured 
to  the  people  themselves,  have  cast  over  the 
municipal  authority  an  illusion,  which  would  be 
immediately  dispelled  by  the  adoption  of  a  less 
popular  mode  of  providing  for  its  administration. 

The  police  of  New- York,  with  regard  to  crimes, 
is  rather  remarkable  for  success  in  detecting, 
than  for  vigilance  in  preventing  them :  scarcely 
a  crime  of  any  magnitude  has  been  committed 
for  many  years,  of  which  the  perpetrators  have 
eluded  detection  and  punishment. 

The  police  of  the  city,  in  the  commonly  re¬ 
ceived  sense  of  the  term,  is  perhaps  inferior  to 
that  of  any  northern  city  in  the  Union,  and  has 
been  the  subject  of  reproachful  comparisons  by 
strangers,  who  are  not  familiarly  acquainted 
with  the  causes.  It  will  appear  by  future  state¬ 
ments,  that  the  commercial  transactions  of  the 
city  are  equal  to  all  the  commerce  of  the  five 


30 


other  principal  cities  in  the  United  States ;  that 
its  population  is  increasing  in  a  much  greater 
ratio,  and  that  the  construction  of  dwellings, 
store-houses,  &c.  is  carried  on  in  all  the  principal 
streets,  to  an  unparalleled  extent.  It  is  the  inevi¬ 
table  result  of  these  active  and  constantly  extend¬ 
ing  operations  to  crowd  the  streets  with  merchan¬ 
dise  and  the  materials  of  building,  and  to  collect 
quantities  of  dirt  from  the  innumerable  carts, 
carriages  and  animals  employed,  which  even  the 
daily  industry  of  a  large  body  of  scavengers 
cannot  altogether  remove.  That  these  are  the 
true  causes,  and  that  the  condition  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  streets  of  business  is  not  to  be  traced  to 
any  inattention  on  the  part  of  the  municipal 
authority  to  the  cleanliness  and  health  of  the 
city,  is  obvious  from  the  fact,  that  the  streets, 
in  which  these  causes  do  not  exist,  exhibit  about 
the  same  degree  of  neatness,  which  prevails  in 
the  best  regulated  cities  in  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  III. 


POPULATION  AND  INTERNAL  RESOURCES'. 

SECTION  I. 

The  first  statement  of  the  population  of  New- 
York  on  record,  is  contained  in  a  note  appended 
to  the  19th  chapter  of  Chalmers’  Political  An¬ 
nals,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  number  of 
colonists  throughout  the  province  in  the  year 
1678  amounted  to  3,430.  The  manner,  in  which 
the  enumeration  was  made,  is  not  stated.  It  ap¬ 
pears  also,  that  the  number  of  dwelling-houses  at 
the  same  time  amounted  only  to  343.  These 
dwellings  could  have  been,  in  general,  nothing 
more  than  cabins,  since  those  of  a  much  later 
period  were  extremely  rude  in  construction  and 
limited  in  dimensions,  compared  with  those  of 
the  present  day.  The  proportion  of  10  persons 
to  a  dwelling  was,  therefore,  very  large ;  but  is 
readily  accounted  for  by  a  reference  to  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  peculiar  to  the  condition  of  youthful 


settlements  in  a  wild  and  barbarous  region,  and 
in  a  rude  and  uncultivated  age. 

The  population  of  the  colony  in  1731,  accord¬ 
ing  to  an  authentic  computation,  amounted  to 
50,291  souls. 

In  the  year  1755  the  whole  number  of  souls  in 
the  province  was  computed  at  100,000,  and  the 
county  of  New- York  was  estimated  to  contain 
about  one-third  of  the  whole  amount  of  popula¬ 
tion  and  resources.*  But  in  the  year  1756,  ac¬ 
cording  to  an  official  enumeration,  by  the  sheriffs 
of  the  several  counties,  the  colony  contained  only 
96,756  persons,  13,542  of  which  were  blacks.! 

The  first  regular  enumeration  of  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  United  States,  under  the  authority  of 
the  general  government,  was  made  in  the  year 
1790,  when  the  population  of  the  city  of  New- 
York  amounted  to  33,131.  In  the  year  1800, 
the  number  had  increased  to  60,489;  in  1810,  to 
96,373 ;  and  in  1820,  to  123,706.  An  enumera¬ 
tion  was  made  in  the  year  1825,  under  the  state 
authority,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  city  con¬ 
tained  166,085  souls. 

According  to  the  rate  of  increase  from  1790 
to  1800,  the  population  of  the  city  would  have 

*  Smith’s  History  of  New- York,  Part  VI.  Chap.  1st  and  2d.  The  colony 
of  Connecticut  at  the  same  time  contained  above  133,000  inhabitants. 

t  Spafford’s  Gazetteer,  page  48.  In  the  year  1749  the  population  of 
New- York  was  also  estimated  at  100.000  souls.  Pitkin’s  Statistical  View 

Chap.  I. 


doubled  in  little  more  than  12  years.  By  a  re¬ 
ference  to  the  history  of  the  United  States,  it  will 
appear  that  this  whole  period  was  one  of  unexam¬ 
pled  commercial  prosperity.  By  means  of  wars 
and  political  dissensions,  the  Old  World  was 
making  constant  and  almost  unlimited  demands 
upon  the  industry  of  the  IV ew ;  our  commercial 
intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  the  principal  tra¬ 
ding  country  of  Europe,  was  established  upon 
the  basis  of  a  treaty  during  the  greater  part  of 
this  period :  commercial  conventions  existed  be¬ 
tween  us  and  Sweden,  Holland,  and  other  trading 
countries  ;  and,  excepting  our  differences  with 
France,  which  were  brief  in  their  duration,  and 
at  no  time  seriously  prejudicial  in  their  effects, 
nothing  occurred,  during  this  long  season  of  tran¬ 
quillity,  to  disturb  our  citizens  in  their  enterpri¬ 
ses  abroad.  The  resources  of  the  city  of  New- 
York,  which  began  to  assume  the  character  of 
a  general  market  for  the  whole  country,  were 
brought  into  full  operation  by  these  favouring 
circumstances,  and  the  increased  demand,  which 
arose  for  men  and  means,  would  naturally  draw 
from  other  quarters  the  necessary  supplies  of 
both.  To  these  causes,  and  to  no  other,  is  to  be 
traced  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city  from  1790 
to  1800. 

According  to  the  rate  of  increase  from  1800 
to  1810.  the  population  of  the  city  would  havo 


doubled  in  a  little  less  than  seventeen  years.  It 
will  be  remembered,  that  more  than  half  this 
period  was  one  of  depredation  on  our  commerce 
by  foreign  nations,  and  of  restriction  by  our  own 
government.  Captures  and  condemnations,  em¬ 
bargoes  and  acts  of  non-intercourse,  had  so  dimi¬ 
nished  the  profits  of  trade,  and  rendered  com¬ 
mercial  operations  so  precarious,  that  a  large 
amount  of  capital  was  withdrawn  from  them  ; 
and  the  city  of  New- York  was,  as  will  be  seen 
by  a  comparison  of  the  rate  of  increase  in  popu¬ 
lation  with  that  of  the  previous  ten  years,  a  prin¬ 
cipal  sufferer  from  these  embarrassments. 

The  period  of  ten  years,  which  followed,  was 
one  of  still  greater  commercial  calamity.  From 
1810  to  1812,  the  evils  of  the  preceding  period 
were  unmitigated,  and  from  1812  to  1815,  the 
still  greater  evils  of  war  were  substituted  for 
them.  During  this  time,  the  foreign  commerce 
of  New- York  was  nearly  extinct ;  and  from  the 
entire  dependence  of  the  city  on  commerce,  no 
principle  of  increase  was  in  operation,  by  the 
force  of  which  she  could  keep  pace  with  the  other 
parts  of  the  United  States.  From  1815  to  1820, 
trade  again  became  active,  though  not  uniformly 
so,  and  a  portion  of  this  period  was  marked  by 
numerous  individual  reverses,  (the  reaction  of  ex¬ 
cessive  enterprise)  so  that  the  aggregate  increase 
of  these  last  five  years,  was  altogether  inadequate 


35 

to  counterbalance  the  unfavourable  results  of  the 
live  years,  which  preceded  them.  Accordingly, 
it  appears  from  the  rate  of  increase  during  this 
period,  (1810  to  1820,)  that  the  population  of 
the  city  would  not  have  doubled  in  thirty-five 
years,  a  rate  far  below  the  average  progress  of 
population  throughout  the  country.  During  the 
same  period,  population  throughout  the  State  of 
New- York,  was  increasing  at  a  rate,  according 
to  which  it  would  have  doubled  in  about  twenty- 
three  years.*  The  testimony  of  this  fact  alone 
would  be  conclusive  with  regard  to  the  position, 
that  the  city  of  New- York  has  heretofore  been 
altogether  dependant  on  commercial  operations 
with  foreign  states,  and  that,  these  operations 
being  interrupted,  there  has  been  no  other  prin¬ 
ciple,  by  the  force  of  which  she  could  maintain 
an  equal  progress  with  other  sections  of  the 
country. 

According  to  the  rate  of  increase  from  1820  to 
1825,  the  population  of  the  city  would  have  dou¬ 
bled  in  about  fourteen  years  and  a  half.  During 
this  period,  commerce  was  altogether  unre¬ 
strained,  and  the  rate  of  increase  was  about  the 

*  The  population  of  the  state  of  New-York,  was  in  1810,  nine  hundred 
and  fifty-nine  thousand  and  forty-nine,  and  in  1820,  one  million,  three 
hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  twelve.  While 
the  population  of  the  state  was  increasing  in  a  ratio  of  4.  34  per  cent,  per 
annum,  the  population  of  the  city  was  increasing  in  a  ratio  of  only  2.  83 
per  cent. 


mean  of  the  two  highest  rates  during  former 
periods.  The  difference  between  this  period  and 
the  ten  years  previous  to  the  year  1800,  is  to 
be  traced  to  the  decrease  of  the  carrying  trade 
and  to  the  inferior  degree,  in  which  our  agricul¬ 
tural,  and  through  it  our  commercial,  industry 
was  tributary  to  the  demands  of  Europe  and  the 
dependencies  of  European  states.  Their  exemp¬ 
tion  from  wars  has  left  them  at  liberty,  not  only 
to  supply  their  own  wants  by  the  production  of 
their  own  industry,  but  also  to  carry  for  them¬ 
selves  whatsoever  they  produce  and  export  to 
supply  the  wants  of  other  countries. 

There  is  a  concurrence  in  the  testimony  of  all 
these  facts  and  circumstances  connected  with  the 
progress  of  New- York,  which  is  so  convincing 
with  regard  to  the  position,  which  they  are 
brought  to  illustrate  and  sustain,  as  to  render 
further  comment  unnecessary.  Assuming  then, 
the  average  rate  of  increase  during  the  several 
periods  above  referred  to,  as  a  just  basis  for  an 
estimate  of  the  future  increase  of  the  city,*  its 
population  in  half  a  century  from  the  year  1825, 
will  amount  to  more  than  a  million  of  souls. 

On  the  accuracy  of  this  calculation,  estimates 


*  la  a  subsequent  chapter  the  grounds  of  this  estimate  will  be  exam¬ 
ined  in  detail,  and  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  show  that  there  exists  no 
sufficient  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  city  will  be  restrained  in  its  growth, 
to  narrower  limits  than  those  of  European  capitals  of  the  first  magnitude 


37 

ot  the  future  value  of  real  estate,  beyond  the  pre¬ 
sent  limits  of  the  city,  must  essentially  depend. 
The  whole  island  would  not  contain  many  more 
than  1,400,000  inhabitants.  It  is  estimated  that 
about  one-eighth  of  the  whole  surface  of  the 
island,  including  villages,  is  already  occupied. 
If  this  distribution  were  uniform  and  equal  to  the 
greatest  density  of  the  city  population,  the  island 
would  not  contain  more  than  about  1,300,000 
inhabitants;  but,  on  a  portion  of  the  eighth  now 
occupied,  population  is  susceptible  of  greater 
condensation,  and,  according  to  the  average 
proportion  of  inhabitants  to  surface  in  the  cities 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  believed  that  the 
final  amount  of  the  population  of  the  island  will 
not  differ  materially  from  the  number  first  stated. 
From  these  data,  general  estimates  may  be  readily 
made  with  regard  to  the  future  value  of  property 
in  lands.  For  instance,  it  would  follow  from  these 
premises  that  the  whole  surface  of  the  island,  about 
the  year  1780,  will  be  in  demand  for  building- 
lots,  and  the  increase  in  value  of  the  various  por¬ 
tions  from  year  to  year  will  be  in  ratio  oltnnir 
distance  from^the  ^pres^nt^  compact  part  of  the 
city — a  ratio  di^M«*sh4««^with  the  approach  of 
population  and  settlement.  The  value  of  par¬ 
ticular  situations  will  necessarily  be  relative  to 
their  importance  with  regard  to  trade,  (foreign 
or  domestic)  and  that  of  other  situations  to  their 


fitness  for  private  residences.  These  differences 
are  in  their  nature  incapable  of  being  foreseen; 
but  the  general  result,  which  has  been  stated, 
may  be  safely  relied  on  as  authorized  by  a  fair 
comparison  of  the  present  with  the  past.* 

The  population  of  the  city  is  exceedingly 
mixed.  It  was  so  in  its  early  stages,  and  new 
causes  have  arisen  during  its  progress  to  confirm 
and  enlarge  its  prevailing  character.  The  Dutch 
families,  by  which  the  first  settlement  was 
formed,  are  still  represented  in  their  descendants, 
who  constitute  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
whole  number  of  inhabitants.  The  descendants 
of  the  English  families,  who  established  them¬ 
selves  in  the  province  during  its  colonial  depend¬ 
ence  on  Great  Britain,  are  still  more  numerous. 
New-England  has  furnished  a  large  number  of 
the  citizens;  and  the  commercial  character  of 


*  It  is  supposed  by  some,  that  the  extension  of  the  population  of  the 
city  and  its  environs,  will  be  nearly  uniform  in  all  directions  from  the 
present  centre  of  business  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  that  the  growth  of 
Brooklyn  _yill  postpone,  in  some  degree,  the  settlement  of  the  island. 
Thi*supposition  ought  be  verified,  if  the  present  and  future  centre  of  bu¬ 
siness  were  to  be  tlii^  same.  But  it  is  apparent  from  the  configuration  of 
the  island,  as  well  as  from  recent  indications,  that  the  increase  of  inland 
trade  will  bring  into  use  the  sftb?e  Y>f*tlie'  NVt.h'  R^ver  to  a  great  distance 
from  the  southern  extremity  ;  and,  if  the  future  extension  in  this  direction 
is  in  proportion  to  the  past,  the  most  remote  point  of  the  island  will,  in  a 
very  few  years,  be,  with  regard  to  convenience,  as  near  the  centre  of 
trade  (certainly  of  inland  trade,)  as  the  nearest  point  of  Brooklyn.  There 
can  be  no  cause  of  apprehension,  therefore,  that  the  growth  of  the  city  will 
be  retarded,  in  this  manner,  to  so  great  a  degree  as  to  affect  the  general  ac¬ 
curacy  of  the  foregoing  calculations. 


the  city  is  such  that  natives  of  almost  every 
country  in  the  world  may  be  found  in  the  streets 
and  counting-houses. 


SECTION  II. 

It  was  intended  by  the  author  of  this  sketch, 
to  give  a  detailed  view  of  the  internal  resources 
of  the  city  ;  but  in  making  the  attempt,  obstacles 
presented  themselves  at  the  outset,  which  seemed 
to  him  to  be  in  their  nature  insuperable.  A 
general  result  might  have  been  obtained,  but  not 
of  such  a  character  as  to  be  useful.  The  only 
details,  which  are  capable  of  being  reduced  to 
certainty,  are  connected  with  the  condition  of 
incorporations  and  regularly  organized  establish¬ 
ments.  All  the  rest  is,  in  a  great  degree,  the 
result  of  loose  and  uncertain  conjecture.  The 
value  of  dwellings  and  their  appurtenances,  of 
private  establishments  devoted  to  the  common 
arts  of  life,  and  buildings  in  general,  cannot  be 
determined  according  to  any  strictly  accurate 
standard  of  valuation.  Indeed,  il  an  accurate 
result  could  be  obtained,  it  is  believed  on  reflec¬ 
tion  that  it  would  be  of  no  value.  Facts  of  this 
sort  are  only  useful,  when  compared  with  other 
facts  of  the  same  nature.  It  would  be  of  little 
importance  to  know  that  all  the  buildings  in 


40 


New- York  of  a  particular  class  amounted  to  a 
certain  sum  in  value,  unless  it  could  be  ascer¬ 
tained  that  all  the  buildings  of  the  same  class  in 
Philadelphia  or  Boston,  according  to  the  same 
standard  of  valuation,  amounted  to  another  cer¬ 
tain  sum :  and,  as  will  be  seen  in  a  subsequent 
chapter,  there  is  no  mode  of  ascertaining  these 
facts.  There  are  certain  kinds  of  property, 
which  are  an  index  of  particular  conditions  of 
the  public  industry,  and  these  it  will  be  our 
business  to  consider.  But,  in  the  absence  of 
the  data  necessary  to  accurate  estimates,  cal¬ 
culation  will  be  altogether  abandoned,  with 
regard  to  every  other  species  of  property. 

The  amount  of  capital  employed  in  monied 
and  other  institutions,  connected  with  the  ordi- 
nary  business  of  the  city,  cannot  be  taken  as  a 
guide  in  estimating  the  general  amount  of  wealth. 
A  large  portion  of  the  capital  (about  four-fifths 
of  the  whole  amount)  of  the  insurance  compa¬ 
nies  consists  in  bonds  and  mortgages  on  real 
estate.  The  one,  therefore,  is  but  a  representa¬ 
tive  of  the  other ;  and,  in  order  to  render  accu¬ 
rate  an  individual  account  of  either,  the  amount 
of  the  other  would  necessarily  be  deducted  from 
it.  But,  with  regard  to  calculations  connected 
with  the  activity  of  commercial  transactions,  and 
the  rapid  circulation  of  the  subjects  of  exchange, 
the  amount  of  capital  invested  in  monied  institu- 


41 


tions,  &/C.  is  undoubtedly  a  correct  guide.  It  is, 
perhaps,  the  best  illustration  that  can  be  given 
of  the  activity  of  the  commercial  operations  of 
the  city.  But  it  is  far  from  being  an  accurate 
measure  of  the  magnitude  of  those  operations. 
In  New- York  almost  every  species  of  fixed 
property,  by  means  of  hypothecations  familiar  to 
the  common  course  of  trade,  becomes  a  circu¬ 
lating  capital,  which  is  constantly  changing  its 
form,  and  yielding  at  every  conversion  a  profit  to 
its  employers.  It  is  principally  in  the  degree  to 
which  this  practice  prevails,  that  New- York  is 
distinguished  from  all  the  other  mercantile  towns 
of  the  United  States.  In  a  city  increasing  so 
rapidly  in  population  by  the  force  of  external 
impulses,  the  extending  demand  for  capital  would 
render  this  a  natural  and  almost  a  necessary 
resort.  From  the  same  cause,  considerable 
investments  of  capital  have  been  made  in  New- 
York  by  non-residents,  so  that  other  cities,  and 
even  other  countries,  by  means  of  these  invest¬ 
ments,  are  interested  in  its  prosperity* 

*  The  common  notion  that  the  employment  of  foreign  capital  is 
prejudicial  to  the  country  in  which  it  is  invested,  is  nearly  exploded. 
The  most  superficial  examination  will  exhibit  a  gain,  instead  of  a  loss,  in 
every  such  investment.  The  interest  of  this  capital  goes  to  the  foreign 
capitalist,  but  the  profits  of  the  industry,  which  it  puts  in  motion,  com¬ 
prehending  the  subsistence  and  compensation  of  the  individuals  employed, 
is  obviously  a  gain  to  the  country,  in  which  the  investment  is  made.  The 
industry  of  New-York  has  been  in  some  degree  stimulated  by  contributions 

of  this  nature. 


42 


The  state  of  the  monied  institutions  of  the 
city,  according  to  the  latest  account,  is  as  follows : 

There  are  fourteen  banks  in  operation,  which 
are  authorized  by  the  laws  of  the  state ;  and  of 
which  the  capitals  amount  to  the  aggregate  sum 
ol  $14,750,000.  From  this  amount  is  to  be 
deducted  the  sum  of  $1,150,000,  on  account  of 
a  portion  ol  the  capitals  of  certain  companies, 
which,  by  the  condition  of  their  charters,  can 
appropriate  only  a  part  of  their  funds  to  banking 
purposes — leaving  a  balance  of  $13,600,000. 

The  Branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
is  authorized  to  employ,  in  its  operations  in  the 
city,  a  portion  of  the  capital  of  the  parent  bank 
equal  to  $2,500,000. 

These  two  sums  amount  to  $16,100,000,  which 
may  be  stated  as  constantly  employed  in  strictly 
banking  operations. 

Since  the  1st  of  January  the  Dry  Dock  Com¬ 
pany  has  gone  into  operation  with  a  capital  of 
$200,000  applicable  to  banking,  and  $500,000 
applicable  to  other  objects. 

There  are  eleven  marine  insurance  companies 
with  capitals  amounting  to  $5,000,000.  Four  of 
these  companies,  with  capitals  amounting  to 
$1,800,000,  made  no  dividend  during  the  year 
1826 ;  two  made  but  one  dividend,  and  one  com¬ 
pany  had  not  gone  fully  into  operation  at  the 
close  of  the  year.  The  dividend,  therefore, 
accrued  on  a  capital  of  $3,100,000. 


43 


There  are  thirty-three  fire  insurance  compa¬ 
nies,  of  which  the  capitals  amount  to  the  aggre¬ 
gate  sum  of  $12,450,000.  Five  of  these  com¬ 
panies  made  no  dividend  during  the  year  1826, 
and  two  new  ones,  authorized  by  law,  but  not 
in  operation  at  the  close  of  the  year,  are  exclu¬ 
ded  from  this  statement.  The  dividends  made 
by  these  companies  accrued  on  a  capital  of 
$10,300,000.* 

The  Savings  Bank  receives  deposits  to  be  with¬ 
drawn  at  the  option  of  the  depositors.  The  funds 
of  this  institution  amounted  on  the  1st  January, 
1827,  to  $1,600,392. 

There  are  several  other  incorporations,  with 
capitals  amounting  to  the  sum  of  $3,200,000. 

The  whole  amount  of  the  stocks  of  the  city  on 
the  1st  January,  1827,  may,  therefore,  be  stated 
at  $39,500,392,  and  this  exclusive  of  the  surplus 
capital  and  funds  of  several  of  the  banks  and 
insurance  companies. 

The  increase  of  stocks  since  the  year  1800,  is 
exhibited  in  the  following  statement : 


1800, .  $6,000,000. 

1810, .  11,100,000. 

1820, .  24,100,000. 

1827, .  39,500,392. 


*  For  the  principal  part  of  the  above  information  relative  to  the  mo¬ 
nied  institutions  of  the  city,  the  author  is  indebted  to  a  view  prepared  by 
Mr.  T.  H.  Goddard,  published  in  the  Daily  Advertiser  of  the  1st  of  Jan¬ 
uary,  1827,  and  politely  furnished  by  the  editor  of  that  journal. 


44 


Of  this  last  sum,  nearly  two-thirds  has  been 
employed  in  banking,  or  in  operations  connected 
with  foreign  commerce ;  and  about  35  of  the  39 
millions  of  stock  has  been  employed  profitably  for 
the  holders.  These  facts,  taken  in  connexion  with 
the  rapid  increase  of  population,  are  a  further  illus¬ 
tration  of  the  augmenting  resources  of  the  city. 

According  to  a  digest  of  returns  of  the  manu¬ 
facturing  establishments  of  the  United  States, 
prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  reported  to  Congress  with  the  census 
for  the  year  1820,  the  capital  invested  in  manu¬ 
factures  in  the  city  of  New- York  amounted  to 
$1,780,950.  The  largest  item  in  the  sums  which 
make  up  this  amount,  is  $300,000,  invested  in  the 
manufacture  of  steam  engines  and  castings  of  every 
description ;  the  next  is  the  sum  of  $238,750,  in¬ 
vested  in  refining  sugar;  and  the  third,  $185,000, 
invested  in  the  distillation  of  malt-liquors.  All 
the  other  sums  are  comparatively  small,  and  are 
generally  employed  in  the  production  of  articles 
of  common  use  and  daily  consumption  within  the 
city. 

These  details  fully  sustain  the  statement  made 
in  Chapter  I.  that  the  city  of  New- York  has  no 
manufactures,  excepting  such  as  are  altogether 
independent  of  local  facilities,  and  such  as  are 
likely  to  grow  up  wherever  there  are  large  accu¬ 
mulations  of  men  and  means. 


From  1801  to  1811,  the  population  ot‘  the  city 
of  London  increased  from  900,000  to  1,050,000. 
At  this  rate  it  would  have  doubled  in  sixty  years. 
During  these  ten  years,  according  to  a  statement 
in  the  New  Monthly  Magazine  for  February. 
1811,  there  had  been  annually  added  to  the  city 
one  thousand  dwelling-houses.  New- York,  in 
the  year  1824,  had  a  population  of  about  160,000 
souls,  increasing  at  a  rate,  by  which  it  would 
have  doubled  in  less  than  fifteen  years.  The  dif¬ 
ferent  proportions  being  observed  in  the  amount 
of  population  and  rates  of  increase  in  these  two 
cases,  there  should  have  been  added  to  the  city 
of  New- York  seven  hundred  and  ten  dwelling- 
houses  in  the  year  1824.  But  it  appears  from 
actual  enumeration,  by  the  personal  industry 
of  a  private  individual,  that  the  number  of 
new  buildings  erected  in  that  year  amounted 
to  sixteen  hundred  and  twenty-four.  Of  these, 
at  least  fourteen  hundred  were  dwelling-houses: 
only  seventy-six  less  than  the  whole  number, 
which,  according  to  the  relative  increase  ol 
dwellings  and  inhabitants  in  London,  will  be 
annually  required,  when  New- York  shall  con¬ 
tain  twice  the  present  amount  of  inhabitants, 
augmenting  at  the  present  rate  of  increase. 
But  as  the  proportion  of  persons  to  each  dwel¬ 
ling  is  greater  in  this  calculation  than  the  exist- 


46 


mg  proportion*  throughout  the  city,  it  is  pro¬ 
bable  that  the  future  annual  increase  of  dwell¬ 
ings  will  be  to  the  annual  increase  of  inhabitants, 
as  the  number  erected  in  1824  was  to  the  increase 
of  inhabitants  in  that  year.  But  the  year  1824 
was  one  of  great  activity — and  it  is  possible  that 
the  new  buildings  may  have  exceeded,  by  a  small 
number,  the  average  proportion. 


*  There  has  been  no  regular  enumeration  of  the  dwelling-houses  in 
the  city  for  many  years.  The  number  was  estimated  at  seventeen  thou¬ 
sand,  when  the  population  amounted  to  100,000, — a  proportion  of  six 
persons  to  a  dwelling.  But  this  was  mere  conjecture,  and  it  is  now  be¬ 
lieved  to  have  been  far  beyond  the  real  number. 


47 


CHAPTER  IV. 


EXTERNAL  RESOURCES. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  view,  it  has  been  seen 
that  the  growth  of  New- York  is  owing  entirely 
to  the  flourishing  condition  of  her  commerce.  In 
the  last  chapter,  her  internal  resources  have  been 
briefly  surveyed,  rather  as  the  evidences  of  her 
past  and  present  prosperity,  than  as  the  elements 
of  her  future  growth.  The  great  causes,  from 
which  the  city  is  to  derive  her  prosperity  and 
power,  lie  without ;  the  means,  which  she  has 
accumulated  within,  are  secondary,  and  can  only 
be  regarded  as  important,  with  a  view  to  her 
future  extension,  when  taken  in  connexion  with 
the  operation  of  the  primary  causes,  to  which  we 
have  just  adverted.  The  former  are  mere  mate¬ 
rials  for  the  application  of  industry  and  enter¬ 
prise;  but  the  latter  furnish,  in  a  large  and  pro¬ 
gressive  ratio  of  increase,  both  the  materials 
themselves  and  the  powers,  which  are  to  assem¬ 
ble  and  combine  them. 


48 


We  shall  now  proceed  to  examine  the  imme 
diate  sources  of  her  future  prosperity. 


SECTION  I.— CANAL  NAVIGATION. 

The  system  of  internal  communication  by  ca¬ 
nals,  which  the  state  of  New- York  adopted  a  few 
years  ago,  and  in  the  execution  of  which  she  has 
made  such  rapid  progress,  has  given  an  impulse 
to  the  industry  of  her  citizens,  of  which  no  fore¬ 
sight  can  properly  estimate  the  results.  A  coun¬ 
try  of  vast  extent  and  inexhaustible  fertility  has 
been  penetrated  to  its  centre,  and  its  productions 
brought,  by  the  virtual  annihilation  of  distance, 
which  arises  from  increased  facility  of  transpor¬ 
tation,  to  the  very  skirts  of  the  city.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  productions  of  foreign  countries 
accumulated  within  the  city  by  the  operations  of 
commerce  and  exchange,  are  distributed  with  the 
same  ease  to  the  various  parts  of  the  state,  which 
have  become  mutually  tributary  to  the  wants  of 
each  other.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this 
examination  to  consider  the  beneficial  changes, 
which  have  been,  or  are  to  be,  wrought  in  the 
social  and  political  condition  of  the  state  by  the 
progress  of  internal  communication,  or  even  to 
ascertain  the  additions  which  have  been  made  to 
the  general  wealth  and  resources  of  the  commu- 


41) 


nity.  Consistently  with  its  design,  the  system 
can  only  be  viewed  in  connexion  with  the  par¬ 
ticular  interests  of  the  city,  and  as  subordinate  to 
the  commercial  prosperity,  which  it  is  destined  so 
powerfully  to  stimulate. 

From  the  facts,  which  have  been  developed 
during  the  progress  of  the  Erie  canal,  it  is  clear 
that  its  final  advantages  have  been  greatly  under¬ 
valued.  The  first  estimates  of  the  cost  of  execu¬ 
tion  fell  short  of  the  cost  as  estimated  by  the  canal 
commissioners  in  their  report  of  1825,  by  nearly 
three  millions  of  dollars ;  but  the  first  estimates 
of  the  profits  were  underrated  in  a  still  higher 
degree.  In  that  report,  it  was  estimated  that  the 
canal  fund,  if  properly  invested,  would,  at  the  end 
of  ten  years  from  1826,  amount  to  above  eight 
millions  of  dollars,  a  sum  exceeding  the  whole  of 
the  debt  contracted  in  the  execution  of  the  work.* 
As  the  principal  part  of  this  revenue  is  derived 
from  the  imposition  of  tolls  upon  articles  trans¬ 
ported  on  the  canal,  the  greater  part  of  which  pass 
through  New- York  for  her  own  consumption,  for 
exportation,  or  for  transmission  into  the  interior, 
it  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  commercial  indus¬ 
try  of  the  city  will  receive  vast  accessions  of  mate¬ 
rials  for  employment,  and  that  her  general  increase 
will  be  stimulated  in  proportion.  The  amount  of 


*  See  Appendix,  A . 


50 


tolls  for  1826,  was  $*765,104  97  but  from  the 
manner  in  which  the  tolls  are  assessed  and  col¬ 
lected,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  precise 
value  of  the  articles,  on  which  they  are  imposed, 
as  may  be  done  in  the  case  of  an  ad  valorem 
imposition. 

If  this  great  channel  of  communication  were 
limited  to  the  operations  of  trade  within  the 
state,  the  city  of  New- York  would  possess 
greater  sources  of  wealth,  and  more  abundant 
materials  for  commercial  enterprise  and  industry 
than  any  other  city  in  the  United  States.  The 
region  of  country  from  Albany  to  lake  Erie,  the 
two  extremities  of  the  canal,  furnishes  more  of 
the  elements  of  human  industry  than  any  other 
region  of  equal  magnitude  in  any  other  state. 
There  are,  perhaps,  sections  of  country  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  which 
produce  in  greater  abundance  the  materials  for 
supporting  animal  life ;  but  there  are  none,  which 
yield  at  the  same  time  so  great  an  amount  and  so 
great  a  variety  of  natural  productions.  The 


*  The  annual  increase  of  tolls  has  been  as  follows  : 


1823,  . $1 19,988  08. 

1824,  .  289,320  58. 

1825,  .  566,279  49. 

1826,  .  765,104  97. 


The  amount  of  the  two  first  years  above  stated  accrued  upon  transpor¬ 
tation  on  a  portion  only  of  the  whole  line  of  canal  communication.  An 
annual  increase  may  be  expected  for  several  years  to  come,  though  in  a 
ratio  regularly  diminishing  with  the  augmentation  of  the  general  amount. 


51 


salt  works  of  Salina  are  exhaustless,  and  distribute 
throughout  the  state  one  of  the  first  necessaries 
of  life,  at  a  rate  of  cost  comparatively  of  no 
account.  Immense  beds  of  gypsum  have  been 
discovered,  and  are  gradually  coming  into  use; 
and  evidences  have  been  given  of  the  presence  of 
mineral  treasures  of  great  variety,  extent  and 
value,  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  country 
intersected  by  the  canal.  These  productions, 
excepting  such  a  portion  as  is  demanded  for  the 
consumption  of  the  interior,  will  find  their  way 
to  the  city,  and  add  to  her  wealth  by  the  profits  of 
exchange.  The  amount  in  quantity  and  value  of 
the  commodities,  which  will  enter  into  the  inland 
trade  of  the  state,  cannot  be  calculated  upon  any 
data  now  before  the  public,  in  consequence  of 
the  uncertain  ratio  of  progress,  which  a  country 
makes  in  population  and  resources,  when  all  the 
principles  of  increase  are  not  fairly  brought  into 
operation.  In  countries  possessing  a  full  popula¬ 
tion,  skilled  in  the  various  pursuits  of  industry, 
all  further  progress  will  be  dependant  upon  some 
improvement  in  the  arts,  which  will  furnish 
means  of  sustaining  upon  the  same  surface  a 
greater  amount  of  animal  life.  But  in  new  coun- 
tries,  rich  in  unoccupied  lands  and  natural  pro¬ 
ductions,  where  the  divisions  of  industry  are  few 
and  imperfect,  and  a  vast  theatre  is  open  for 
their  application,  augmentations  of  wealth  arise 


from  the  exertion  of  those  natural  powers,  which 
are  brought  into  operation  by  the  agency  of  arts 
already  known  to  society.  So  long  as  there  is 
room  for  the  application  of  those  powers,  every 
addition  to  the  general  mass  of  industry  becomes 
the  principle  of  a  further  increase,  the  force  of 
which  might  be  obtained  by  multiplying  the 
materials  and  the  principle  into  each  other,  if 
the  power  of  each  could  be  ascertained.  But  in 
the  absence  of  the  data  necessary  to  mathemati¬ 
cal  precision,  speculation  must  be  resorted  to, 
guided  in  its  views  by  such  facts  as  are  in  our 
possession.  It  was  conjectured  by  Fulton  that 
the  number  of  tons  transported  upon  the  canal, 
in  the  event  of  its  construction,  (which  was  at 
the  time  of  his  death  undetermined,)  would 
amount  to  100,000.  Others  have  estimated  the 
final  amount,  when  the  full  powers  of  the  country 
are  brought  into  action,  at  500,000  tons,  without 
any  reference  to  the  extension  of  commerce 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  state.  Assuming  the 
last  of  these  estimates  to  contain  the  true  amount,* 
augmented  by  the  productions  of  that  portion  of 
the  western  country,  which  will  hereafter  be  em¬ 
braced  by  this  chain  of  connexion,  and  it  will 


*  This  estimate  will  not  be  deemed  extravagant,  when  it  is  stated  that 
the  number  of  tons  transported  in  the  year  1826  below  the  point  of  junc¬ 
tion  of  the  Erie  and  northern  canals  amounted  to  352,074.  As  soon  as 
the  powers  of  the  country  are  brought  into  full  operation,  an  augmenta¬ 
tion  far  beyond  the  amount  of  this  estimate  is  to  be  expected. 


53 


be  difficult  to  assign  a  limit  to  the  influence, 
which  it  will  exert  over  the  growing  fortunes  of 
the  city,  where  these  masses  of  wealth  are  to  be 
assembled  for  distribution. 

When  the  practicability  of  the  Erie  canal 
became  fully  established,  and  experiment  had 
shown  that  the  profits  on  the  capital  employed 
would  be  greater  than  those  of  ordinary  invest¬ 
ments,  similar  improvements  were  projected  in 
other  states.  Two  canals  of  great  importance 
to  the  city  of  New- York  have  been  marked  out, 
and  are  already  in  a  train  of  execution.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  Ohio  canal,  intended  to 
unite  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  river  with  those  of 
lake  Erie.  This  communication  may  be  consi¬ 
dered  as  an  extension  of  the  Erie  canal,  and  will 
render  the  city  of  New- York  the  market  for  the 
agricultural  productions  of  a  large  portion  of 
Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois.  These  states  have 
a  surface  of  132,780  square  miles,  are  rich  in 
fertility  of  soil,  and  furnish  in  abundance  all  the 
materials  for  manufacturing  industry.  With 
these  sources  of  production  it  is  difficult  to  esti¬ 
mate  the  increase  of  trade,  which  will  arise  from 
the  diminution  of  time,  expense  and  labour,  by 
the  agency  of  canal  transportation.  Few  of  the 
productions  of  these  states  will  stop  short  ol  the 
terminating  point  of  the  Erie  canal,  as  the  indus¬ 
try  of  the  interior  of  New- York,  being  applied  to 

8 


the  production  of  the  same  articles,  both  agricul¬ 
tural  and  manufacturing,  the  state  will  be  sup¬ 
plied  by  her  own  capital  and  labour,  and  the 
proceeds  of  western  industry  will  find  their  way 
to  the  city  of  New- York,  for  the  purpose  of  effect¬ 
ing  exchanges  with  foreign  commodities.  It  is 
also  to  be  expected  from  the  high  manufacturing 
character  of  the  New-England  states,  especially 
Rhode-Island  and  Connecticut,  and  the  facility 
with  which  their  productions  are  introduced  into 
the  New- York  market,  that  western  manufac¬ 
tures  will  be  for  a  long  course  of  years  effectually 
excluded,  and  that  this  canal  will  consequently 
be  subservient  to  agricultural,  and  not  to  manu¬ 
facturing,  industry. 

It  may  not  be  improper  in  this  place  to  observe 
that  a  scheme  has  been  formed  of  cutting  a  canal 
from  Albany  to  Boston,  for  the  purpose  of  extend¬ 
ing  to  New-England  the  benefits  of  the  industry 
and  resources  of  the  interior  of  New- York;  and 
it  lias  been  supposed  by  some  that  this  new  com¬ 
munication,  by  opening  another  market,  would 
divert  from  the  city  of  New- York  a  large  portion 
of  the  productions  of  the  west,  and  make  Boston 
the  market  for  the  exchange  of  those  productions 
with  importations  from  foreign  countries.  But  it 
will  appear,  upon  the  slightest  examination,  that 
this  inference  is  drawn  from  a  very  partial  view 
of  the  subject.  According  to  the  rate  of  trans- 


portation  on  the  Erie  canal  at  the  present 
moment,  a  barrel  of  flour  may  be  carried  from 
Utica  to  Albany  (109  miles)  for  thirty-two  cents. 
Assuming  the  distance  between  Albany  and 
Boston  to  be  170  miles,  the  expense  of  transport¬ 
ing  a  barrel  of  flour  at  the  same  rate  would  be 
forty-nine  cents.  The  expense  of  transportation 
from  Albany  to  New- York  by  the  freight  barges 
is,  according  to  present  rates,  only  twelve  cents; 
making  a  difference  of  thirty-seven  cents  per 
barrel,  or  $3  70  per  ton  in  favour  of  the  New- 
York  market.  The  calculation,  being  predicated 
upon  the  supposition  of  an  equal  rate  of  freight, 
is  unfavourable  to  New- York,  because  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  transportation  is  regulated  by  the 
rate  of  toll,  which  would,  it  is  supposed,  be 
higher  between  Albany  and  Boston  than  between 
Albany  and  Utica,  as  the  country  would  be 
penetrated  with  greater  difficulty  by  a  canal 
communication,  and  of  course  a  higher  rate  of 
imposition  would  be  necessary  to  defray  the 
expense  of  the  work.  But,  even  according  to  this 
calculation,  the  difference  exhibited  in  favour  of 
the  New- York  market  would  inevitably  exclude 
from  the  Boston  market  every  article  produced 
in  the  interior  of  the  state  of  New-York  or  in 
the  western  states,  and  designed  for  exportation. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  also,  that  when  once  a 
city  has  acquired  an  established  character  as 


the  great  commercial  emporium  of  a  country? 
whether  from  local  advantages  or  fortuitous  cir¬ 
cumstances,  the  course  of  trade  becomes  settled 
by  flowing  regularly  in  the  same  channel,  perma¬ 
nent  investments  of  capital  are  made,  and  the 
foreign  as  well  as  the  inland  commerce  of  the 
country  takes  a  direction,  which  nothing  but  the 
developement  of  extraordinary  superiorities  ot 
position  in  some  other  place  can  change.  The 
present  superiority  of  New- York  over  every  other 
city  in  point  of  local  facilities  for  the  prosecu¬ 
tion  of  foreign  and  internal  trade  is  indisputable ; 
and  it  is  only  necessary  to  glance  at  her  physical 
relations  with  the  different  sections  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  to  see  that  no  other  position  can  gain  an 
ascendency  over  her ;  for  there  is  no  other  posi¬ 
tion,  which  is  endowed  with  equal  advantages. 
These  have  already  been  seen ;  and,  as  it  is 
intended  in  another  chapter  to  extend  the  view 
still  farther,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  recapitulate 
them  here.  The  city,  which  approaches  most 
nearly  to  New- York  in  local  facilities  for  the 
operations  of  foreign  commerce,  is  New-Orleans. 
This  city  occupies  the  ‘terminating  point  of  the 
only  natural  channel,  through  which  the  produc¬ 
tions  of  the  south-western  states  seek  a  passage 
to  the  ocean,  and  where  inland  must  be  exchanged 
for  external  navigation.  But  her  advantages  of 
position,  with  regard  to  internal  communication. 


are  counteracted  in  some  degree  by  disadvantages 
of  climate;  and  the  approach  to  the  city  from 
the  ocean,  with  all  the  improvements  that  art 
can  devise,  will  never  cease  to  be  inconvenient 
and  dilatory.  The  immense  power  of  production, 
which  the  western  states  possess  in  fertility  of 
soil,  and  in  facilities  for  the  application  of  labour 
to  manufacturing  purposes,  is  destined  to  rank 
them  among  the  most  industrious  and  productive 
sections  of  the  country.  But  it  may  be  fairly 
calculated  that  the  immense  regions,  which  the 
Columbus  canal  will  open  to  lake  Erie,  including 
a  large  portion  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
will  become  tributary  to  New- York,  from  the 
greater  ease  and  economy  of  sending  their  pro¬ 
ductions  to  her,  as  well  as  from  her  superiority 
as  a  market.  The  vicinity  of  New-Orleans  to 
the  West-India  islands  will  secure  to  her  a  large 
portion  of  the  profits  of  the  trade  between  them 
and  the  western  states,  and  South  America  will 
share  largely  in  her  commercial  industry.  But 
on  these  causes  her  growth  will  be  almost 
entirely  dependent.  New- York,  on  the  contrary, 
besides  absorbing  the  products  of  a  vast  interior, 
abounding  in  mineral  productions  and  the  fruits 
of  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industry, 
which  is  already  opened  to  her,  will  divert  as  has 
been  supposed,  a  large  portion  of  the  proceeds 
of  western  capital  and  labour  from  its  natural 


58 


destination,  and  render  it  subservient  to  the 
enlargement  of  her  own  wealth  and  power. 

The  Morris  canal  of  New- Jersey,  for  the 
execution  of  which  a  company  has  been  incorpo¬ 
rated  by  a  law  of  that  state,  is  considered  by  its 
projectors  as  subservient  to  the  interests  of  manu¬ 
factures,  rather  than  to  the  interests  of  agricul¬ 
ture.  The  country,  which  it  penetrates,  abounds 
in  mineral  productions  and  materials  for  the 
fabrics  of  art ;  but  they  are  so  distributed  that 
a  channel  of  communication  is  necessary  to  unite 
them  at  a  given  point,  at  such  an  expense, 
including  the  cost  of  manufacture,  as  will  enable 
them  to  compete  with  foreign  articles  of  the 
same  nature.  The  section  of  country  bordering 
upon  the  western  extremity  of  the  canal  fur¬ 
nishes  inexhaustible  mines  of  the  Lehigh  coal, 
which  will,  without  doubt,  supersede  the  use 
of  every  other  species  of  fuel  for  household  and 
manufacturing  purposes,  wherever  it  can  be 
economically  carried.  The  interior  section  is 
rich  in  iron  ore,  copper,  zinc,  manganese,  cop¬ 
peras,  plumbago,  serpentine,  marble  and  lime. 
The  section  bordering  upon  the  eastern  extremity 
of  the  canal  abounds  in  water  power,  by  the 
agency  of  which  the  products  of  the  other  sec¬ 
tions  may  be  brought  into  active  and  useful 
operation.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  agri¬ 
cultural  improvements  of  the  state  will  be 


materially  aided  by  the  facility  of  procuring,  at 
a  small  expense,  lime,  gypsum,  and  other  manures 
to  assist  the  natural  powers  of  the  soil,  and  by- 
gaining  a  less  expensive  market  for  its  produc¬ 
tions,  in  consequence  of  the  diminished  cost  of 
transportation.  But  it  has  been  supposed  that 
the  principal  utility  of  the  canal  would  consist  in 
the  power,  which  it  will  afford,  of  bringing  into 
operation  the  raw  materials  of  an  extensive  and 
fruitful  region,  and  of  introducing  into  the  mar¬ 
kets  of  the  United  States,  without  imposing  any 
tax  upon  other  departments  of  industry,  an 
abundant  supply  of  many  manufactured  articles, 
for  which  we  are  now  indebted  to  foreign  coun¬ 
tries. 

This  subject  is  very  interesting,  especially  as 
connected  with  the  interests  of  the  city  of  New- 
York;  and  as  it  has  been  but  little  discussed,  it  is 
proposed,  in  order  to  exhibit  more  fully  the  advan¬ 
tages,  which  are  likely  to  result  from  the  canal, 
to  give  a  separate  examination  to  the  state  of  those 
productions,  which  will  be  brought  into  activity 
as  the  subjects  of  trade.* 

The  commodity,  which  is  destined  to  be  of  most 
value  to  the  city,  is  the  Lehigh  coal,  as  a  substi¬ 
tute  for  the  fuel  now  in  use  for  domestic  purposes. 
The  rapid  growth  of  the  city  renders  it  extremely 

The  facts  here  stated  are  principally  derived  from  a  report  of  the 
Commissioners  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  practicability  and  expediency 
of  the  canal  under  consideration. 


60 


desirable  that  some  cheap  substitute  should  be 
procured  to  supply  the  increasing  demand,  and  to 
prevent  that  augmentation  of  price,  which  always 
follows  an  increase  of  inhabitants,  where  wood  is 
in  common  use.  Forests  are  limited  in  their 
power  of  production:  a  large  and  increasing 
population  will  consume  more  rapidly  than  na¬ 
ture  can  produce ;  and  the  demands  of  an  aug¬ 
menting  population  upon  new  lands  for  agricul¬ 
tural  purposes  are  constantly  narrowing  the  limits, 
within  which  the  powers  of  nature  are  in  opera¬ 
tion.  Old  countries  have,  therefore,  of  necessity 
penetrated  the  bosom  of  the  earth  for  those  sup¬ 
plies,  which  could  no  longer  be  found  upon  its 
surface.  The  importance  of  coal  mines  to  manu¬ 
facturing  industry  is  quite  as  great,  as  there  is  no 
country  of  full  population,  where  furnaces,  if 
dependent  on  the  productions  of  the  forest,  would 
not  yield  to  such  an  extension  of  agriculture  as 
would  be  necessary  to  supply  its  inhabitants  with 
the  means  of  subsistence. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  consumption  of 
coal  in  New- York,  according  to  results  obtained 
by  an  examination  of  the  consumption  of  Euro¬ 
pean  cities  in  a  similar  climate,  would  amount  to 
115,632  tons;  and  this  exclusively  of  the  coal 
required  for  manufactures,  steamboats,  &c.  In 
this  estimate,  an  allowance  has  been  made  for  the 
superiority  of  the  Lehigh  over  the  imported  coal 


in  the  principle  of  combustion,  the  difference 
being  about  100  per  cent  in  favour  of  the  former.* 
The  saving,  which  this  coal  would  produce  to  the 
city,  cannot  be  accurately  calculated;  wherever 
it  superseded  the  use  of  wood,  there  would  be  a 
difference  of  about  500  per  cent. — In  superseding 
the  use  of  Liverpool  coal,  the  difference  would  be 
100  per  cent.  The  latter  cannot  enter  into  com¬ 
petition  with  the  former  in  the  American  market, 
for  it  is  well  known  that  it  is  never  imported, 
excepting  as  ballast.  As  merchandise,  charged 
with  freight,  it  would  not  pay  for  itself.  An  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  gain  to  the  city  by  substituting  the 
Lehigh  coal  for  the  fuel  now  in  use,  cannot  safely 
be  made  until  the  canal  is  completed ;  but  it  may 
be  safely  assumed  that  several  hundred  thousand 
dollars  will  be  annually  saved,  thus  creating  a 
new  capital  to  that  amount,  ready  to  undergo  a 
profitable  investment  in  some  productive  depart¬ 
ment  of  industry. 

The  article,  next  in  importance  to  Lehigh  coal, 
is  iron.  This  article  is  considered  second  in  im¬ 
portance  to  the  other,  because,  without  its  agency, 
the  ores,  with  which  the  region  intersected  by  the 


*  This  fact  has  been  ascertained  by  chemical  analysis.  The  writer  of 
this  is  also  authorized  by  Alderman  M‘Queen  to  state,  that  in  the  manu¬ 
facturing-  processes,  to  which  he  has  applied  it,  the  result  is  the  same.  He 
has  found  it  equal  to  a  double  quantity  of  imported  coal,  and  he  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  iron  manufactured  by  its  agency  is  more  valuable  in  some 
of  its  properties. 


9 


i >2 


canal  abounds,  could  not  be  brought  to  a  labora= 
ted  state.  Of  ninety-three  forges  in  the  county 
of  Morris,  thirty-nine  have  been  suspended  in 
their  operations  on  account  of  the  expense  of  fuel, 
which  is  constantly  increasing  with  the  progress 
of  population  and  agriculture.*  The  canal,  by 
furnishing  an  abundant  and  regular  supply  of 
coal  at  a  comparatively  cheap  rate,  will  bring 
these  establishments  into  operation  again,  and  in 
a  very  few  years  it  may  be  safely  calculated  that 
the  iron  of  New- Jersey  will  expel  the  iron  of 
Europe  from  the  markets  of  the  United  States. 
This  calculation  proceeds  upon  the  following 
facts: — 1st.  The  iron  of  New-Jersey,  when  well 
manufactured,  is  superior  in  some  of  its  properties 
to  imported  iron,  without  being  inferior  in  any.f 
2d.  It  can  be  afforded  in  the  New- York  mar¬ 
ket,  from  which  the  other  sections  of  the  country 
principally  draw  their  supplies,  at  a  much  inferior 
expense.  A  ton  of  Swedish  iron  commands  in 
New- York  about  one  hundred  dollars.  It  is  esti¬ 
mated  that  the  diminished  expense  of  manufac- 

*  This  expense  is  calculated  to  absorb  two-thirds  of  the  profits  of  every 
forge,  by  compelling  the  proprietors  to  keep  large  tracts  of  wood-land  in 
the  neighbourhood.  Thus,  for  a  forge  of  the  value  of  500Q  dollars,  10,000 
dollars  must  be  invested  in  forest  land  to  keep  it  supplied  with  fuel.  It  is 
in  consequence  of  these  enormous  investments  that  so  many  of  the  forges 
have  become  extinct. 

t  The  superiority  of  foreign  iron  heretofore  has  arisen  from  the  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  European  and  American  processes  of  manufacture — a  differ¬ 
ence,  which  is  constantly  diminishing  with  our  experience. 


ture,  from  the  cheap  supply  of  fuel  and  the  re¬ 
duced  cost  of  transportation,  will  enable  the  iron 
of  New- Jersey  to  be  sold  in  the  same  market  for 
fifty-five  dollars  per  ton.  The  diminished  cost  of 
the  article,  combined  with  its  superior  value  in 
use,  must  have  the  effect  of  banishing  the  imported 
iron  from  the  market,  the  moment  the  supply 
equals  the  demand. 

The  whole  amount  of  iron  imported  into  the 
United  States  in  1822,  was  37,077f-  tons.  At 
-$90  per  ton,  which  is  not  far  from  the  average 
value,  the  amount  of  these  importations  would 
be  $3,336,997  50.  This  amount,  as  soon  as  the 
market  is  supplied  by  the  domestic  production  of 
the  article,  may  be  invested  at  home,  and  will 
add  so  much  to  the  sum  of  our  own  industry. 

The  articles  next  in  value  are  lime,  free-stone 
lor  building,  marble  for  architectural  purposes, 
and  various  metallic  minerals,  which  may  be 
procured  at  a  comparatively  small  expense  and 
in  exhaustless  quantities.  The  diminished  ex¬ 
pense,  from  the  increased  facility  of  transporta¬ 
tion,  will  virtually  bring  all  these  bounties  of 
nature  to  the  very  wharves  of  the  city,  and  afford 
them  in  her  markets  at  an  expense  but  little 
above  that  of  extracting  them  from  the  earth  and 
preparing  them  for  use.  The  stimulus,  which 
will  be  given  to  the  business  of  the  city  by  these 
additions  to  the  materials  of  industry,  can  better 


be  fancied  than  explained  by  any  regular  train  of 
calculation. 

It  may  be  apprehended  by  some  that  the 
growth  of  the  manufactures  of  New-Jersey  will 
have  a  tendency  to  impair  the  commercial  inte¬ 
rests  of  New- York,  by  withdrawing  from  employ¬ 
ment  that  portion  of  her  tonnage,  which  is 
engaged  in  the  importation  of  articles  to  be 
superseded  by  domestic  production.  This  appre¬ 
hension  must  be  limited  to  the  article  of  iron  ; 
and  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  general 
extension  of  trade  in  other  commodities  arising 
from  the  causes,  which  have  been  investigated, 
will,  even  in  the  first  stage  of  this  manufacture, 
counterbalance  any  decrease,  which  may  proceed 
from  the  home  production  of  that  article.  The 
first  effect  of  the  success  of  a  domestic  manufac¬ 
ture  is  to  banish  all  foreign  articles  of  the  same 
species  from  the  market.  If  this  manufacture  is 
not  forced  into  existence  by  arbitrary  imposi¬ 
tions  upon  other  branches  of  industry,  but  grows 
up  with  the  natural  developement  of  the  powers 
and  resources  of  a  country,  its  success  is  not 
limited  to  this  result.  It  is  almost  certain,  from 
the  economy  of  labour  and  expense,  arising  from 
improvements  in  the  process  of  manufacture,  to 
be  ultimately  produced  in  such  a  quantity  and  at 
such  a  cost  as  will  enable  it  to  bear  the  further 
expense  of  exportation  for  the  consumption  of 


foreign  countries.  This  is  almost  always  the 
case  with  manufactures,  which  grow  up  of  them¬ 
selves,  and  sometimes  with  those,  which  are 
stimulated  in  their  growth  and  protected  from 
competition  in  infancy  by  the  artificial  provisions 
of  government.  It  is  in  this  maimer  that  com¬ 
merce  is  indemnified  for  the  sacrifices,  which  it 
sometimes  makes  in  favour  of  other  departments 
of  industry.*  But  in  this  case,  no  such  decrease 
of  commerce  is  to  be  apprehended.  The  markets 
of  New- York  are  to  be  crowded  by  the  produc¬ 
tions  of  one  of  the  richest  agricultural  and 
mineral  regions  in  the  world.  These  productions 
will  be  exchanged  for  other  commodities,  which 
will  be  sent  to  meet  them:  the  materials  for 
commercial  operations  will  be  augmented  to  an 
incalculably  large  amount;  new  capitals  will  be 
created  and  invested  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give 
an  impulse  to  the  general  business  of  the  society ; 
and,  amid  this  universal  augmentation  of  wealth 
and  industry,  it  is  impossible  that  any  interest 
can  be  a  sufferer. 

From  a  review  of  the  statements  relative  to 
the  progress  of  the  several  canal  communications, 
which  are  to  have  their  termination  at  the  city  of 
New- York,  and  the  productive  powers,  which 
they  are  destined  to  bring  into  operation,  it  is 
apparent  that  no  position  in  this  country,  perhaps 


*  See  Appendix,  B. 


m  the  world,  unites  so  many  facilities  tor  be¬ 
coming  permanently  great  and  prosperous.  It 
has  been  seen  that  the  countries,  which  will 
become  tributary  to  her  commerce,  besides  a 
fertility  of  soil  not  surpassed  by  that  of  any 
other  country,  abound  in  materials  for  manufac¬ 
turing  industry,  and  in  all  the  varieties  of  mineral 
production.  It  remains  only  to  examine  the 
extent  and  population  of  the  country,  which  the 
canals  will  supply,  and  all  the  data  lor  an  estimate 
of  so  much  of  her  future  progress  as  will  proceed 
from  these  causes  will  have  been  obtained.  It 
may  be  fairly  calculated  that  two-thirds  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  states,  which  communicate 
with  the  ocean  by  the  Erie  canal,  will  derive 
their  supplies  of  merchandise  from  the  city  of 
New- York,  and  remit  to  her,  in  discharge  of  the 
debt,  the  productions  of  their  industry  to  the 
same  amount  in  value.  The  surface,  over  which 
this  population  is  spread,  upon  the  hypothesis  of 
an  equal  distribution,  will  be  as  follows : — 


New- York,  (two-thirds  of  her 

Square  miles. 

surface)  30,800 

Ohio,  - 

do. 

-  -  25,900 

Indiana,  - 

do. 

-  -  23,200 

Illinois,  - 

do. 

-  -  39,420 

Territory  of  Michigan, 

do. 

-  -  36,000 

Total,  155,320 

07 


The  population,  according  to  the  census  ot 
1820,  will  be  as  follows  : 


New- York,  (two-thirds  of  the  amount) 
Ohio,  -  do. 

Indiana,  -  do. 

Illinois,  -  do. 

Territory  of  Michigan,  do. 


915,808. 

387,622 

98,118 

36,807 

5,930 


1,444,285 

Thus  it  is  seen,  that  the  industry  of  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  1,444,285  souls  will  be  made  subservient 
by  a  single  line  of  communication  to  the  commer¬ 
cial  interests  of  the  city,  and  that  a  country  of 
155,320  square  miles  in  extent,  rich,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  every  variety  of  production,  will  pour  its 
treasures  into  her  bosom,  and  draw  from  her  the 
same  amount  of  value  in  return.  To  the  results 
of  this  calculation,  are  to  be  added  the  population 
and  extent  of  the  country  opened  by  the  Morris 
canal,  which  will,  at  the  smallest  possible  estimate, 
be  equal  to  one  half  of  the  population  and  surface 
of  the  state  of  New- Jersey,  and  we  shall  obtain 
the  sum  of  1,583,072  inhabitants,  and  159,480 
square  miles  of  country  rendered  dependent  by 
canal  navigation  upon  the  commercial  transac¬ 
tions  of  a  single  city.  In  this  final  sum,  it  is  to 
be  recollected  that  the  last  addition  contains  a 
larger  portion  of  the  manufacturing  principle  in 
the  natural  powers  of  the  soil  and  in  the  charae- 


08 


ter  of  its  productions  than  any  section  of  equal 
magnitude  in  the  United  States.  It  is  also  to  be 
recollected,  that  a  large  portion  of  the  state  of 
Vermont,  which  is  supplied  by  the  northern  canal, 
is  excluded  from  this  estimate,  although  it  might 
fairly  be  brought  in  to  swell  the  amount.  As  it 
is,  the  exclusion  of  this  region  of  country  may 
serve,  if  necessary,  to  counteract  any  supposed 
exaggeration  in  the  data,  from  which  the  results, 
above  presented,  have  been  drawn. 


SECTION  II.— FOREIGN  TRADE. 

From  the  foregoing  examination  it  is  apparent 
that  the  inland  trade  of  New- York  is  yet  in  its 
infancy.  Until  within  a  very  few  years,  the 
communications  of  the  city  with  the  interior 
have  been  made  by  the  navigation  of  natural 
channels,  and  by  land  transportation  from  the 
points,  at  which  those  natural  channels  have 
terminated.  The  great  system  of  internal  com¬ 
munication,  from  which  vast  streams  of  wealth 
and  power  are  destined  to  flow,  has  been  briefly 
sketched;  and  we  shall  now  proceed  to  the 
examination  of  that  portion  of  her  commercial 
resources,  which  the  city  employs  in  her  commu¬ 
nications  with  foreign  states.  The  original 
foundation  of  the  city  in  commercial  interests. 


09 


and  her  subsequent  growth  by  the  force  of  those 
interests,  have  already  been  examined 

If  it  were  intended  to  give  a  detailed  view  of 
the  condition  of  the  city,  with  respect  to  her 
commercial  resources,  at  different  stages  of  her 
progress,  it  would  be  necessary  for  this  purpose 
to  assume  three  dates,  viz.  1678,  1783,  and  1825. 
The  first  date  terminates  a  period  of  about  64 
years  from  the  date  of  the  first  commercial 
establishment :  the  second  date  terminates  a 
period  of  105  years  from  the  first  date ;  and  the 
third  date  terminates  a  period  of  48  years  from 
the  second. 

During  the  first  of  these  periods,  the  progress 
of  settlement  was  opposed  by  the  rudeness  of  the 
country,  the  scarcity  of  its  productions  from  the 
want  of  cultivation,  the  hostility  of  its  original 
possessors,  and  the  uncertain  tenure  by  which  it 
was  held,  in  consequence  of  the  conflicting  claims 
deduced  from  successive  adventurers  in  the  career 
of  discovery.  This  first  period  comprehends 
only  about  fourteen  years  of  administration 
under  British  regulations,  the  Dutch  having  held 
it,  at  sufferance  or  by  permission  of  the  British 
king,  from  about  the  time  of  discovery  until  1664. 

During  the  second  period,  almost  all  the 
causes,  which  were  in  operation  during  the  first, 
continued,  although  in  a  minor  degree ;  and  the 

progress  of  the  city  was  farther  retarded  by 

to 


70 


sanguinary  wars  with  neighbouring  colonies,  in 
which  they  were  involved  by  the  domestic  differ¬ 
ences  and  disputes  of  the  mother  countries,  and 
by  the  arbitrary  and  impolitic  measures,  which 
were  frequently  adopted  by  the  governors  of  the 
province,  in  the  direction  of  its  capital  and  indus¬ 
try.  But  her  connexion  throughout  these  two 
periods  with  two  countries  of  vast  commercial 
resources,  engaged  in  trade  to  every  part  of  the 
world,  gave  a  stimulus  to  her  progress,  which 
these  obstacles  could  not  effectually  oppose. 
That  the  early  growth  of  New- York  was  aided 
by  the  power  of  Holland  and  Great  Britain,  there 
is  no  doubt;  but  the  influence  exerted  in  her 
behalf  was  subjected  to  the  principles  of  the 
modern  doctrine  of  colonization,  by  which  the 
mother  country  is  at  liberty  to  appropriate  to  her 
own  use  all  the  profits  of  that  wealth  and  indus¬ 
try,  of  which  she  has  furnished  the  elements.  It 
was  from  this  cause,  more  than  any  other,  that, 
the  progress  of  New- York  was  retarded  during 
the  second  stage  of  her  history.  Oppressive 
regulations  were  invented  to  shackle  her  trade, 
and  give  her  industry  a  direction  entirely  different 
from  that,  which  it  would  have  sought  in  the 
absence  of  restriction.  These  embarrassments 
were  shared  in  common  with  all  sections  oi 
colonial  America,  which  were  subject  to  British 
rule ;  and  they  are  so  well  understood,  that  it  is 


merely  necessary  to  cite  them  here  as  one  of  the 
most  powerful  causes,  by  which  the  prosperity  of 
the  city  of  New- York  was  diminished  and  post¬ 
poned.  During  the  latter  years  of  the  second 
period,  although  in  possession  of  Great  Britain, 
her  general  condition  and  progress  were  nearly 
the  same  as  those  parts  of  the  country,  which 
were  not  occupied  by  a  hostile  force. 

During  the  third  period,  her  progress  has  been 
rapid,  regular,  and  unrestrained.  As  soon  as  the 
revolutionary  war  was  at  an  end,  and  all  com¬ 
mercial  restrictions  removed,  trade  became  active 
and  spirited,  and  she  began  to  assume  a  high 
commercial  character  among  the  great  cities  of 
the  confederation.  But  it  was  not  until  near  1800 
that  her  commercial  advantages  were  properly 
estimated,  and  foreign  states  began  to  look  to  her 
as  the  future  general  mart  of  the  country.  The 
hostilities,  in  which  we  have  been  involved  since 
that  period,  have  had  an  adverse  influence  upon 
her  prosperity,  especially  as  her  foreign  com¬ 
merce,  upon  which  she  has  been  wholly  depend¬ 
ent,  was  for  a  time  almost  completely  suspended. 
But  from  these  temporary  suspensions  she  seems 
to  have  emerged  with  renewed  energy  and  vigour, 
and  she  is  now  advancing  in  a  ratio  of  increase, 
which  has  been  but  once  exceeded,  and  that  but 
slightly,  at  any  stage  of  her  progress. 

To  present  a  full  view  of  the  foreign  commerce 


of  the  city  would  require  more  time  and  labour 
than  the  author  of  this  sketch  is  at  liberty  to 
devote  to  it;  and,  if  obtained,  would  swell  it 
beyond  its  prescribed  dimensions.  There  is 
scarcely  a  country,  which  is  not  visited  by  her 
commercial  adventures,  or  a  branch  of  trade, 
which  she  does  not  share  with  other  nations ;  and 
it  would  be  difficult  to  enter  minutely  into  the 
detail  of  these  extensive  relations.  Into  an 
estimate  of  the  external  resources  of  a  trading 
city  every  thing  properly  enters,  which  is  exclu¬ 
sively  devoted,  whether  directly  or  indirectly,  to 
operations  carried  on  abroad.  The  permanent 
establishments,  which  are  created  with  a  view  to 
trade,  are  of  this  nature ;  but  the  precise  value 
of  these  it  will  be  impossible  to  ascertain.  In 
estimating  the  value  of  real  property  in  the 
United  States  there  is  an  insuperable  difficulty  in 
procuring  results,  by  which  comparisons  may  be 
made  between  different  places,  in  consequence  of 
the  absence  of  direct  taxation  under  the  authority 
of  the  central  government.  In  most  European 
cities,  on  the  contrary,  all  such  property  is  sub¬ 
jected  to  taxation  under  a  general  authority ;  and 
from  the  valuation,  which  is  made  in  order  to 
determine  the  amount  of  the  imposition,  may  be 
obtained  the  relative,  as  well  as  the  aggregate 
amount  of  value  of  all  the  objects,  on  which 
impositions  are  laid.  The  want  of  such  a  gene- 


73 


ral  system  in  the  United  States,  in  time  of  peaces 
renders  it  impossible  to  procure,  at  stated  periods, 
the  statistical  information,  which  is  necessary  to 
give  an  accurate  relative  view  of  the  progress  of 
one  city  with  another  in  the  accumulation  of 
wealth.  The  valuations,  which  are  made  by 
particular  states,  having  no  common  standard, 
cannot  be  safely  taken  as  the  basis  of  any  com- 
parative  view.  For  these  reasons  we  shall  only 
exhibit  the  amount  of  shipping,  and,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  the  extent  of  the  commercial  operations 
of  the  city  of  New- York,  without  attempting  to 
estimate  the  value  of  those  fixtures,  which  are 
subservient  to  her  trade. 

The  tonnage  of  the  city  on  the  3 1st  December, 
1824,  according  to  the  Custom-house  books,  was 
as  follows : — 

Tons.  95ths. 

Registered  tonnage,  128,702  56 
Licensed  do.  132,443  36 

total,  261,145  92 

According  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  no 
vessel  can  be  employed  in  foreign  trade  without 
being  registered,  and  no  vessel  can  be  employed 
in  the  coasting-trade  without  being  licensed  or 
enrolled.  The  registered  tonnage  above  stated 
exhibits,  therefore,  the  amount  belonging  to  the 
city  of  New- York,  which  is  engaged  in  foreign 


74 


commerce,  and  the  licensed,  that  portion,  which 
is  employed  in  the  coasting-trade.  This  division 
is  not,  perhaps,  strictly  accurate,  as  some  regis¬ 
tered  vessels,  without  surrendering  their  certifi¬ 
cates  of  registry,  are  employed  by  their  owners 
in  the  coasting  trade ;  but  this  does  not  often 
occur,  as  registered  vessels  pay  the  same  amount 
of  duties  at  every  entry,  which  licensed  vessels 
pay  per  annum. 

From  the  above  statement,  it  would  appear  that 
the  tonnage  of  the  city  is  less  than  it  was  in  1810, 
according  to  a  statement  made  by  Mr.  Pitkin, # 
who  estimates  it  at  268,548  g\  tons.  To  recon¬ 
cile  these  inconsistent  statements,  inquiries  have 
been  made  at  the  custom  house,  the  result  of 
which  is  as  follows :  The  amount  stated  by  Mr. 
Pitkin  included  all  the  tonnage,  which  had  been 
registered  for  a  number  of  previous  years,  making 
no  deduction  for  the  licenses  and  certificates  of 
registry,  which  had  been  surrendered,  or  for  the 
losses,  which  had  occurred  during  the  three  pre¬ 
ceding  years  of  depredation  on  our  commerce  by 
foreign  powers,  and  of  counteracting  restrictions 
by  our  own  government.  The  amount  stated 
was,  therefore,  far  above  the  real  amount. 

The  shipping  belonging  to  the  city,  engaged  in 
foreign  trade,  is  principally  employed  with  that 
class  of  operations,  which  is  strictly  commercial 


*  Statistical  View,  Chap.  XI, 


ill  its  nature,  and  not  in  the  carrying  trade.  The 
latter  has  been  almost  entirely  conducted  by  the 
shipping  of  the  eastern  states;  and  New-York 
has  probably  at  this  moment  a  proportionably  less 
amount  of  tonnage  employed  in  that  trade  than 
she  ever  has  had  at  any  period  of  her  history.  In 
commercial  operations  strictly  her  own,  she,  in 
fact,  employs  a  considerable  amount  of  the  ton¬ 
nage  of  other  cities.  The  faculty  of  commerce 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  faculty  of  navi¬ 
gation.  The  latter  is  the  instrument,  by  the 
agency  of  which  effect  is  given  to  the  powers  of 
the  former.  Commerce  rests  essentially  upon 
surplus  production:  navigation,  or  the  business 
of  carrying,  is  entirely  independent  of  production, 
and  may  be  carried  on  by  a  nation,  which  has  no 
sources  of  productive  industry  at  home.  This 
distinction  is  strongly  illustrated  by  the  distresses 
incident  to  the  late  war,  and  the  restrictive  sys¬ 
tems,  by  which  it  was  preceded. 

The  value  of  the  goods  imported  into  the  city 
in  1824,  for  which  duties  were  paid  at  the  custom 
house,  was  #37,783,147;  and  the  duties,  which 
accrued  on  them,  amounted  to  #11,178,139  39. 
The  value  of  her  exports  during  the  same  period, 
was  #22,309,362,  and  the  duties  on  tonnage  of 
every  species  was  #27,592  60. 

The  progress  of  a  city  or  state  in  wealth  and 
industry  can  only  be  understood  by  a  comparison 


76 


of  the  particular  facts,  which  mark  the  successive 
stages  of  its  increase.  The  real  value  of  a  fact 
connected  with  such  an  increase  is  not  properly 
estimated,  until  its  relative  value  is  disclosed;  and 
for  this  purpose,  we  shall  bring  the  statements 
above  presented  to  the  standard  of  similar  state¬ 
ments  at  earlier  stages  of  our  national  history. 

The  amount  of  tonnage  belonging  to  all  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1793,  was  489,804  || 
tons,  including  licensed,  enrolled,  and  registered 
vessels.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  tonnage 
of  the  city  of  New- York  in  the  year  1824, 
amounted  to  more  than  one  half  as  much  as  all 
the  tonnage  of  the  United  States  in  1793. 

The  amount  of  exports  from  the  United  States 
in  the  year  1792,  was  820.753.098.  The  amount 
of  exports  from  the  city  of  New- York  in  1824,  was 
greater  (as  will  be  seen  above)  than  the  amount 
of  exports  from  the  whole  country  in  1792. 

The  amount  of  receipts  from  the  customs  in 
the  year  1804,  at  all  the  ports  in  the  United 
States,  was  $11,098,565  33.  So  that  the  duties 
on  foreign  merchandise,  imported  into  the  city  of 
New- York  in  1824,  without  including  tonnage 
duties,  light  money,  &c.  exceeded  the  whole  value 
of  the  customs  of  the  United  States  in  1824.# 


It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this  comparison  that  the  amount  of  com¬ 
modities  imported  into  New-York,  in  1824,  was  greater  than  the  whole 
amount  of  commodities  imported  into  the  United  States  in  1 804.  It  is  to  be 


The  amount  of  imports  into  the  United  States 
in  the  year  1795,  was  $69,756,258.  So  that  the 
amount  of  importations  into  the  port  of  New- 
York,  in  the  year  1824,  was  more  than  half  the 
amount  of  all  the  imports  into  the  United  States 
in  1795. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  observe  here  that, 
by  a  reference  to  the  statement  of  imports  and 
exports  of  New- York  for  the  year  1824,  it  will  ap¬ 
pear  that  the  former  exceed  the  latter  in  value  by 
the  sum  of  $15,473,885,  making  a  balance  to 
that  amount  against  the  city.  This  unfavourable 
balance  is  apparent,  and  not  real,  as,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  manner  of  estimating  their  value,  it 
is  well  known  that  a  large  portion  of  these  imports 
is  destined  to  other  parts  of  the  United  States  as 
returns  for  articles  of  domestic  growth,  which 
have  been  exported  directly  from  the  places  of 
production.  In  comparing,  therefore,  the  value 
of  the  imports  and  exports  of  the  city,  the  value 
of  these  returns  should  be  subtracted  from  the 
value  of  the  former.  But,  independently  of  this 
fact,  the  different  modes  of  valuing  the  imports 
and  exports,  render  all  inferences  drawn  from  the 
apparent  amount  altogether  erroneous.  It  is 
pretty  generally  admitted,  that  all  estimates  ot 

remembered,  that  there  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  the  rate  ot 
duties  from  1804  to  1824,  by  the  force  of  which  the  same  amount  of  duties 
would  accrue  upon  a  smaller  amount  of  merchandise. 

1  l 


78 


the  commercial  prosperity  of  a  nation,  which  are 
founded  upon  the  balance  of  trade,  are  fallacious. 
The  manner  of  keeping  custom-house  books 
affords  a  very  uncertain  criterion  of  the  value, 
both  of  the  productions,  which  a  country  imports, 
and  of  those,  which  it  carries  abroad ;  and  from 
these  books  are  drawn  the  data,  upon  which  an 
estimate  ol  the  balance  of  trade  is  founded.*  In 
estimating  the  trade  of  one  country  with  another, 
the  excess  of  importation  may  be  counterba¬ 
lanced  by  an  excess  of  exportation  to  a  third ;  and 
in  estimating  the  whole  commerce  of  a  country 
with  all  other  nations,  the  precise  amount  of  loss 
or  gain  could  be  obtained  only  by  ascertaining  the 
exact  amount  in  value  of  the  productions,  which 
are  sent  abroad,  at  the  place  of  exportation,  and 
of  those,  which  are  received  in  return,  at  the  place 
of  importation.f  In  a  large  commercial  country, 
this  value  cannot  be  precisely  ascertained.  In 
the  custom  house  books  of  the  United  States,  the 
value  of  imported  goods,  paying  ad  valorem  duties, 
is  estimated  according  to  the  actual  cost  in  the 


*  Inferences  drawn  from  the  course  of  exchange  between  any  two 
countries  are  admitted  to  be  futile.  Ganihl,  a  distinguished  French 
writer,  in  his  work  on  political  economy,  says,  (Book  IV.  Chap.  9.)  that 
there  is  no  certain  and  positive  mode  of  estimating  the  balance  of  trade  in 
any  country. 

I  The  cost  of  production  affords  only  a  ground  of  inference  with  regard 
to  the  value  of  commodities ;  since  the  true  criterion  must  be,  the  utility 
of  the  commodities  parted  with,  compared  with  the  utility  of  the  objects 
received  in  return: 


79 


countries,  from  which  they  are  imported,  with 
the  addition  of  20  per  cent,  if  brought  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or  any  country  beyond 
it,  or  of  10  per  cent,  if  brought  from  any  other 
place  or  country.  On  the  other  hand,  the  exports 
are  valued  according  to  their  price  at  the  place, 
from  which  they  are  exported,  excluding,  of 
course,  the  cost  of  freight  and  other  charges, 
which  accrue  upon  them  before  their  introduction 
into  the  foreign  market.  In  fact,  this  mode  of 
valuation  is  such  that  the  real  balance  ought  to 
be  considered  the  reverse  of  the  apparent  balance, 
so  that  the  gain,  which  a  country  effects  by  a  par¬ 
ticular  branch  of  foreign  commerce,  would  be 
exactly  equal  to  the  excess  of  its  imports  over  its 
exports.  But  any  just  mode  of  valuation,  by 
which  the  real  utility  of  the  objects  of  exchange 
to  the  exchanging  parties  could  be  ascertained, 
will  always  exhibit  a  mutual  gain  ,*  for  it  is  only 
upon  such  a  basis  that  any  system  of  traffic  can 
be  continued  for  a  length  of  time.  The  rapid 

increase. of  New- York  affords  conclusive  evidence 
«  *• 

*thht  hVrVprhmerCial  operations  have  been  highly 
beneficial  to  her  interests,  and  the  constant  aug¬ 
mentations  of  population,  capital,  and  industry, 
throughout  the  country  in  nearly  a  uniform  pro-  ♦  • 
gression#foi\  many  years,  are  the  most  effectual  *  *  '  * 
refutations,  -which  can  be  given  to  the  popular 
notion  of  an  unfavourable  balance  of  trade  derived 
J>om  partial  and  inaccurate  data. 


W 


» 

•  * 


80 


The  following  statement  of  the  actual  receipts 
into  the  national  treasury,  on  account  of  customs, 
during  the  years  1824  and  1825,  at  some  of  the 
principal  ports  of  the  United  States,  will  exhibit 
the  relative  importance  of  New- York  as  a  com¬ 
mercial  emporium.* 


For  the  year  1824. 


New- York, 

.  .  .  $8,025,110 

Philadelphia,  . 

.  .  .  2,932,004 

Boston,  .  .  . 

.  .  .  2,675,148 

Baltimore,  .  . 

.  .  .  871,271 

Charleston, 

.  .  719,276 

New-Or leans,  . 

.  .  .  675,659 

For  the 

year  1825. 

New- York, 

.  .  $9,803,397  28 

Philadelphia,  . 

.  .  3,103,194  22 

Boston,  .  . 

.  .  2,999,053  14 

Baltimore, 

.  .  906,674  17 

Charleston, 

.  .  669,989  86 

New-Orleans, 

.  .  679,066  82 

By  this  statement  it  appears  that  tne  importa¬ 
tions  into  the  city  of  New- York  in  1824,  exceeded 
by  the  sum  of  $151,752  the  whole  amount  of 
imPorlations  into  the  five  other  principal  ports  of 
*  the  Union.  It  also  appears,  that  tn<T importations 


lie  l 

A 

*  For  this  statement,  the  author  is  indebted  to  the  politeness  of  one  of 
the  principal  officers  of  the  Treasury  department. 


81 


into  the  city  in  1825,  exceeded  by  the^suni  of 
$1,455,419  3?  the  whole  amount  mtmp&rtations 
into  those  ports  during  the  same^'year.  The 
extraordinary  excess  of  the  last  year  is  a  fact 
connected  with  the  growing  importance  of  the 
city,  which  cannot  be  misunderstood;  it  is  not 
only  an  index  of  the  consequence  she  has  already- 
gained,  but  it  is  also  prophetic  of  her  future 
march  to  a  degree  of  eminence  beyond  the  most 
sanguine  predictions  of  the  past. 

The  facts,  which  have  been  presented  in  the 
foregoing  pages,  render  it  almost  unnecessary  to 
say  that  New- York,  as  a  commercial  emporium, 
stands  alone  among  the  other  cities  of  the  Union. 
The  commerce  of  the  latter  has  been,  especially 
for  the  last  few  years,  almost  exclusively  confined 
to  the  exchange  of  articles,  the  produce  of  then- 
own  states  or  of  the  states  in  contiguity  with  them, 
for  foreign  productions  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
producers  of  those  articles.  In  other  words,  every 
city,  excepting  New- York,  has  been  a  particular 
emporium,  limited  in  the  extent  of  its  operations 
by  local  disabilities.  This  remark  applies  to 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Charleston  and 
even  New-Orleans.  None  of  these  cities  have 
ever  had  the  character  of  a  general  mart,  where 
the  domestic  productions  of  all  sections  of  the  coun¬ 
try  have  been  collected  for  exportation,  and  where 
the  importations  from  foreign  countries  have  con¬ 
centrated  for  general  distribution  at  home.  Bos- 


ton  has  been  the  market  for  New-England,  Phila- 

i  #  •  4  f_V  ^  t  ^ 

delphia  for  Pennsylvania  and  portions  of  the  con¬ 
tiguous  states,  Baltimore  for  Maryland,  Charles¬ 
ton  for  South  Carolina,  and  New-Or leans  for  the 
country  upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Missis¬ 
sippi;  and  to  these  limits  their  respective  com¬ 
mercial  operations  have  been  restricted.  But 
New-Yorkhas  acquired  with  regard  to  the  Union 
the  same  relative  character,  which  these  markets 
bear  to  particular  states.  The  productions  of  every 
section  of  the  country  are  accumulated  in  her 
warehouses,  and  the  fruits  of  foreign  industry 
meet  them  in  her  markets  for  the  purposes  of  ex¬ 
change.  She  receives  the  tobacco  of  Virginia, 
the  rice  of  South-Carolina,  the  sugar  of  Louisi¬ 
ana,  and  the  cotton  of  Alabama,  and  sends  them 
abroad  to  those  countries,  whose  manufactures 
are  tributary  to  our  agriculture.  As  a  part  of 
the  same  operation,  she  receives  the  products  of 
Europe  and  the  Indies,  and  distributes  them  to 
those  sections  of  the  country,  from  which  she  has 
derived  the  commodities,  with  which  they  have 
been  purchased.  She  may  be  emphatically  called 

THE  GREAT  COMMERCIAL  EMPORIUM  OF  THE  CON¬ 
FEDERACY  ;  and  when  the  influence  of  an  estab¬ 
lished  character  is  considered  in  connexion  with 
local  advantages,  which  no  adversity  can  destroy, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  she  will  always  re¬ 
tain  her  ascendency  over  the  other  great  markets 
of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  V. 


FUTURE  GROWTH  ESTIMATED. 


To  attempt  to  predict  with  precision  the 
progress,  which  a  city  or  country  is  destined  to 
make  in  population  and  resources,  is  always  a 
precarious  speculation.  The  omission  of  any 
circumstance,  which  contributes  in  the  slightest 
degree  to  the  result,  necessarily  vitiates  the 
estimate;  and  the  constantly  varying  phases, 
which  are  presented  by  a  country  of  great  natu¬ 
ral  resources  in  the  process  of  developement, 
either  by  means  of  new  connexions  abroad,  or 
new  improvements  at  home,  are  an  endless  source 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty  with  those,  who  ven¬ 
ture  to  extend  their  view  to  the  future,  in  with¬ 
drawing  it  from  the  past.  There  are  cases, 
however,  where  the  operation  of  a  cause  has 
been  so  long  and  uniformly  continued  as  to 
justify  the  belief  that  it  is  still  to  be  resorted  to, 


84 


as  a  principle  of  steady  efficacy,  in  inferences 
with  regard  to  the  future.  Of  this  nature  is  the 
case  of  New- York,  in  its  dependence  on  com¬ 
mercial  interests,  as  has  been  seen  in  the  first 
and  third  chapters  of  this  sketch ;  and  if  the 
degree,  in  which  trade  is  hereafter  to  remain 
free  or  become  embarrassed,  could  be  ascer¬ 
tained  with  precision,  the  future  increase  of  the 
city  might  be  predicted  with  the  same  certainty. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  first  and  third 
chapters  establish  not  only  that  the  city  of  New- 
York  has  been  exclusively  dependent  upon  trade, 
but  also  upon  foreign  trade.  From  1810  to  1820, 
internal  communication  was  uninterrupted,  the 
coasting-trade,  though  occasionally  hazardous, 
was  still  carried  on ;  and  yet,  during  this  period, 
her  population  from  a  previous  rate  of  increase,  far 
above  that  of  the  general  increase  throughout 
the  countrv,  fell  down  to  a  rate  far  below  it. 

Hereafter,  new  interests  are  destined  to  co¬ 
operate  with  the  principle  of  foreign  commerce 
in  stimulating  the  growth  of  the  city.  The  great 
system  of  canal  navigation,  which  has  been  cur¬ 
sorily  surveyed  in  the  last  chapter,  makes  her  the 
depot  for  the  productions  of  an  immense  region  of 
country;  and,  if  foreign  trade  should  be  alto¬ 
gether  extinguished,  she  would  still  remain  the 
medium  of  communication  between  the  different 
sections  of  the  Union.  The  productions  of  the 


85 


south  and  north-west  must  meet  for  exchange  in 
her  markets,  and  the  amount  of  these  will  increase 
with  the  extension  of  manufactures  in  the  north 
and  east — an  interest,  which,  by  the  force  of 
natural  facilities,  will  eventually  overcome  all  the 
obstacles  opposed  to  its  progress.*  It  may,  there¬ 
fore,  be  safely  assumed,  that  if  the  foreign  con¬ 
nexions  of  the  city  should,  by  any  future  adversity, 
be  cut  off,  her  progress  will  not  be  checked  to  so 
great  a  degree  as  it  has  been  heretofore:  her 
dependence  on  external  trade  is  no  longer  exclu¬ 
sive;  and  she  will  be  sustained,  in  its  absence,  by 
the  force  of  new  principles,  less  efficacious  and 
more  restricted  in  their  operation,  but  which 
ought  at  least  to  enable  her  to  keep  pace  with  the 
general  march  of  the  country  in  population  and 
resources. 

New- York  will  undergo  no  change  of  charac¬ 
ter  by  means  of  these  new  developements.  Ex¬ 
ternal  may  be  exchanged  for  internal  trade  ;  but 
she  will  still  be  purely  a  trading  city,  and  to  the 
principle  of  commerce  her  prosperity  is  here¬ 
after,  as  at  present,  to  be  traced. 

It  has  been  common  to  assume,  that  the  limits 
of  a  trading  city  cannot  extend  beyond  a  certain 
point,  from  some  supposed  inefficacy  beyond  that 
point  in  the  principle  of  commerce  itself,  or  on 

*  See  Appendix,  (C.) 

12 


86 


account  of  some  physical  inconvenience,  by  which 
its  operations  would  be  restricted  to  a  limited 
sphere.  But  in  the  attempts,  which  have  been 
made  to  assign  that  point,  there  has  been  a  great 
want  of  concurrence.  It  is  also  assumed,  as  a 
consequence  of  the  former  assumption,  that  Lon¬ 
don,  Paris,  and  some  other  European  capitals, 
eould  not  have  grown  to  their  present  magnitude, 
but  for  the  presence  and  patronage  of  a  court ; 
and  the  principle  is  applied  to  the  city  of  New- 
Y  ork  with  a  view  to  establish  that  her  progress, 
after  attaining  a  certain  point  in  population  and 
resources,  will  terminate  by  an  exhaustion  of  its 
own  force.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say,  that 
these  inferences  are  derived  from  a  very  vague 
conception  of  the  subject.  With  regard  to  the 
great  European  capitals  just  referred  to,  all  that 
can  safely  be  asserted  is,  that  the  presence  of  a  court 
is  an  additional  power,  by  virtue  of  which  a  city 
may  be  carried  beyond  the  point,  at  which,  with¬ 
out  the  influence  of  that  power,  its  growth  would 
have  terminated.  But  it  does  not  prove,  that 
other  cities,  under  peculiarly  favourable  circum¬ 
stances,  may  not  attain  an  equal  degree  of  wealth 
and  power  from  the  operation  of  other  causes. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  principle,  that  the 
dimensions  of  a  city,  which  is  purely  commercial 
in  its  character,  will  be  in  a  compound  proportion 
to  the  wealth  and  resources  of  the  country,  which 


87 


it  supplies,  and  to  the  degree,  in  which  it  is 
tributary  to  the  supply  of  that  country. 

Trading  cities,  both  ancient  and  modern,  may 
all  be  brought  to  the  test  of  this  principle.  If 
the  latter  have  not  grown  to  the  dimensions  of 
other  cities  not  purely  commercial,  it  is  because 
commerce  has  been  restrained  by  some  want  of 
facilities,  which  it  is  believed  will  be  readily  dis¬ 
closed  by  a  particular  examination  of  each  indi¬ 
vidual  case.  There  is  no  trading  town  in  Europe 
that  bears  to  the  country,  to  which  it  belongs, 
the  same  relation,  which  New- York  bears  to  the 
United  States.  The  commercial  cities  of  Europe, 
with  the  exception  of  large  capitals,  (these  are 
excluded,  because  their  growth  is  to  be  traced  to 
a  compound  influence,)  are  for  the  most  part 
tributary  as  markets  to  countries  of  limited 
means,  or  tributary  in  a  limited  degree  to  coun¬ 
tries  of  extensive  means.  The  cities  of  Ham¬ 
burgh,  Lisbon,  Genoa,  V enice  and  many  others, 
may  be  cited  as  instances,  in  which  the  countries 
supplied  are  limited  in  extent  and  resources,  and 
where  the  principle  of  commerce  would  be 
restrained  by  physical  disabilities.  Amsterdam, 
Liverpool,  Bordeaux  and  others  may  be  ci¬ 
ted  as  instances,  wherein,  although  the  countries 
supplied  are  vast  in  extent  or  resources,  yet, 
commerce  being  shared  by  other  cities,  their 
growth  would  be  relative  to  the  degree,  in  which 


i 


m 

they  severally  participate  in  it.  But  even  these 
cases,  upon  the  most  narrow  view,  would  not  all 
concur  in  giving  strength  to  the  assumption  under 
examination.  Liverpool  has  grown  to  a  magni¬ 
tude,  and  is  increasing  with  a  degree  of  rapidity, 
which,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  rivalry  of 
London  and  other  commercial  towns  in  England, 
are  conclusive  as  to  its  fallacy.  The  cities  of 
Manchester  and  Birmingham  have  risen,  in  the 
same  manner,  from  the  impulse  of  manufacturing 
interests.  All  of  these  have  been  without  the 
benefit  of  any  of  those  influences,  which  are 
derived  from  the  presence  of  royalty.  These 
cases  are  only  cited  to  show,  that  there  is  but  one 
rule  with  regard  to  the  progress  of  towns — and 
that,  regulated  by  the  degree  in  which  they  are 
capable  of  ministering,  by  any  species  of  industry, 
to  the  industry  of  other  societies.  Apprehensions, 
therefore,  of  the  interruption  of  a  commercial 
city  in  the  course  of  its  progress,  for  any  other 
reason  than  the  common  one — that  there  is  no 
further  demand  for  the  products  of  its  industry — 
are  derived  from  a  notion,  which  is  defective  in 
point  of  reasoning,  and  equally  so  in  point  of 
fact. 

New- York,  as  a  commercial  city,  is  almost 
without  restriction  of  any  sort.  She  has  the 
character  of  a  general  market,  which  natural 
facilities  have  enabled  her  to  establish,  and  which 


the  same  facilities  will  enable  her  to  maintain : 
and  the  country,  which  requires  the  aid  of  her 
commercial  industry,  is,  by  means  of  natural 
advantages  and  powers,  increasing  with  a  degree 
of  force,  of  which  no  foresight  can  venture  to 
assign  the  limits  or  estimate  the  results.  It  is 
fair  to  infer  that  her  growth  will  be,  in  some 
degree,  relative  to  the  growth  of  the  country,  with 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  she  is  inseparably  con¬ 
nected  ;  because,  with  the  increase  of  the  latter 
in  population  and  wealth,  there  must  also  be  an 
extension  of  commerce;  and,  in  ministering  to 
this,  the  city  will  become  endowed  with  enlarged 
capacities.  When  this  commerce  shall  have 
attained  its  utmost  limit  of  extension,  it  would 
follow,  from  the  principle  we  have  constantly  kept 
in  view,  that  the  city  will  cease  to  make  further 
advances,  excepting  so  far  as  it  participates  in 
that  general  progress  of  the  country,  the  induence 
of  which  is  communicated  in  some  degree  to  all 
its  parts.  But  the  growth  of  the  contiguous  or 
dependent  regions  referred  to  is  in  itself  a  very 
considerable  power  to  the  city,  and  to  comprehend 
its  importance,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  go 
into  a  brief  examination,  in  order  to  bring  it  to 
the  standard  of  the  average  rate  of  increase 
throughout  the  United  States  since  the  year  1790. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  in  the 
year  1790  amounted  to  3.929.326  souls :  in  1800 

it  '  ' 


90 


to  5,309,758;  in  1810  to  7,239,903;  and  in  1820 
to  9,625,734.  During  the  first  of  these  periods 
of  ten  years,  the  rate  of  increase  would  be  3.51 
per  cent,  per  annum,  according  to  which  the 
population  of  the  country  would  double  in  about 
28  years  and  a  half:  during  the  second  period 
the  rate  of  increase  would  be  3.63  per  cent,  ac¬ 
cording  to  which  it  would  double  in  about  27 
years  and  a  half;  and  during  the  third  period 
the  rate  of  increase  would  be  3.29  per  cent,  ac¬ 
cording  to  which  it  would  double  in  30  years  and 
a  third.  The  average  rate  of  increase  during 
the  three  periods  would  be  3.47  per  cent,  accord¬ 
ing  to  which  the  population  of  the  country  would 
double  in  about  29  years.* 

In  Chapter  IV  it  has  been  seen  that  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  1,444,285  souls  in  the  interior  of  the 
country  would  become  dependent  by  canal  navi¬ 
gation  upon  the  city  of  New- York  for  those  sup¬ 
plies,  which  are  procured  by  exchange  with 
foreign  countries.  According  to  the  average  rate 
of  increase  above  stated,  the  surface,  over  which 
this  population  is  spread,  would,  in  the  year  1749, 

*  This  rapidity  of  increase  is  best  illustrated  by  a  single  comparison. 
According  to  a  statement  of  Mr.  Malthus,  in  his  work  on  population,  (Book 
2d,  Chapter  ix,)  the  highest  estimates  of  the  population  of  England  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  would  not  make  it  double  in  less  than  125 
years.  The  rate  of  increase  would  only  be  equal  to  four-fifths  per  cent. 
— 'a  striking  contrast  with  the  progress  of  the  United  States,  and  appa¬ 
rently  extraordinary,  when  the  great  prosperity  of  that  country  is  consi¬ 
dered,  although  readily  explained  by  difference  of  circumstances. 


contain  2,888,570  souls ;  and  in  the  year  1878 
the  number  would  amount  to  5,777,140.  In  pro¬ 
portion  as  new  countries  become  occupied,  the  rate 
increase  in  population  is  naturally  diminished, 
because  the  necessaries  of  life,  in  proportion  to 
the  demand  for  them,  become  less  abundant,  and 
are  procured  with  a  greater  amount  of  labor  ;* 
but  by  referring  to  the  chapter  above-mentioned, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  portions  of  country,  which 
will  be  tributary  to  the  city  of  New- York,  are 
precisely  those,  where  the  highest  rate  of  increase 
during  the  last  30  years  may  be  expected  to  con¬ 
tinue,  those  portions  being  extremely  fertile,  rich 
in  the  materials  for  manufacturing  industry,  and, 
for  the  most  part,  but  thinly  inhabited.  The 
contiguity  or  dependence  of  a  region  of  country, 
in  which  population  and  wealth  are  rapidly  in¬ 
creasing,  cannot  be  without  effect;  and,  in  the 


*  This  observation  is  confirmed  by  the  statements  above  presented. 
From  1790  to  1  tiOO,  the  population  of  the  country,  as  has  been  seen,  in¬ 
creased  at  the  rate  of  3.51  per  cent.  From  1800  to  1810,  it  increased  at 
the  rate  of  3.63  per  cent,  but  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  during  this 
period  Louisiana  was  added  to  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  the 
population  of  which,  (amounting  to  97,401  souls,)  according  to  the  census 
of!810,  being  deducted  from  the  whole  amount  obtained  by  the  enumera¬ 
tion  of  that  year,  would  reduce  the  rate  of  increase  to  3.48  per  cent. — 
somewhat  below  the  rate  of  the  previous  ten  years.  From  1810  to  1820, 
the  rate  was  still  lower,  being  only  3.29  Thus  it  appears  that  the  rate  of 
increase  throughout  the  United  States  has  been  regularly  diminishing  as 
settlement  has  extended  and  population  h’ks  become  condensed,  although 
certain  parts  of  the  country,  by  means  of  extraordinary  natural  facilities, 
have  advanced  in  a  ratio  far  exceeding  the  general  average. 


92 


event  of  a  temporary  interruption  of  commerce 
with  more  distant  or  less  dependent  regions,  this 
augmentation  in  the  section  referred  to  would 
have  a  powerful  influence  in  sustaining  the  city 
under  the  pressure  of  its  embarrassments. 

In  estimating  the  future  growth  of  New-York, 
a  measure  must  be  sought  in  an  examination  of 
her  past  progress,  and  not  in  any  external  view. 
It  would  be  inaccurate  to  assume  as  a  standard 
the  average  rate  of  increase  throughout  the  Uni¬ 
ted  States ;  because  principles  are  in  operation 
within  the  city,  the  influence  of  which  is  felt  no¬ 
where  else.  Nor  would  it  be  accurate  to  take 
the  region  of  country,  which  is  dependent  on  her 
commercial  enterprises,  and  measure  the  growth 
of  the  one  by  that  of  the  other;  because  new 
channels  of  communication  are  constantly  open¬ 
ing  to  her  new  regions  of  country,  external  trade 
is  presenting  new  objects  of  employment,  and  the 
sum  of  all  these  is  to  be  added  to  the  influences 
now  in  operation  in  order  to  determine  the  rate 
of  her  future  increase.  The  true  criterion  is  to 
be  derived  from  her  past  progress,  modified  by 
the  new  powers,  which  have  been  brought  into 
operation  by  recent  improvements.  But,  in 
order  that  the  standard  may  rather  be  too  low 
than  too  high,  all  consideration  of  these  powers 
will  be  discarded  and  the  average  rate  of  her  in- 


93 


crease  from  the  year  1790#  to  the  year  1825  will 
be  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  estimate.  As  this 
period  of  35  years  includes  five  years  of  great 
commercial  embarrassment,  and  five  years  of 
almost  an  entire  stagnation  of  trade,  the  result 
ought  not  at  least  to  be  considered  as  exaggerated. 

By  referring  to  Chapter  III  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  population  of  the  city  from  1790  to  1825, 
according  to  four  successive  enumerations, 
increased  as  follows,  viz. 

From  1790  to  1800,  at  the  rate  of  8.25  per 
cent,  per  annum,  by  the  force  of  which  it  would 
have  doubled  in  a  little  more  than  twelve  years. 

From  1800  to  1810,  at  the  rate  of  5.96  per 
cent,  by  which  it  would  have  doubled  in  a  little 
less  than  seventeen  years. 

From  1810  to  1820,  at  the  rate  of  2.83  per 
cent,  by  which  it  would  have  doubled  in  about 
thirty-five  years. 

And  from  1820  to  1825,  at  the  rate  of  6.86  per 
cent,  by  which  it  would  have  doubled  in  about 
fourteen  years  and  a  half. 

The  average  of  these  four  rates  of  increase 


*  It  is  only  since  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution  that  the  growth, 
of  any  part  of  (he  United  States  has  been  regulated  by  principles,  which 
can  be  considered  uniform  or  fixed.  Colonial  subjection,  revolutionary 
disorder,  or  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  government  would  render  the 
results  of  every  previous  year  an  inaccurate  measure  of  those,  which  fol¬ 
lowed.  The  estimate  is,  therefore,  founded  upon  the  results  of  the  years 
subsequent  to  1789,  at  which  time  the  government  was  organized  and  went 
into  operation  upon  the  federal  plan, 

13 


94 


will  be  5.97  per  cent,  according  to  which  the 
population  of  the  city  would  double  in  less  than 
seventeen  years.* 

According  to  this  rate,  then,  the  population  of 
the  city  in  the  year  1842  would  amount  to  above 
300,000  souls ;  in  the  year  1859,  to  above  600,000; 
and  in  the  year  1876  to  above  1,200,000.  The 
estimate  made  in  a  preceding  chapter,  that  the 
population  of  the  city  would,  in  half  a  century 
from  the  year  1825,  amount  to  above  a  million 
was  not,  therefore,  overrated. 

If  there  be  any,  (and  doubtless  there  are,)  who 
may  consider  this  estimate  extravagant,  it  is  to  be 
observed  in  reply  to  their  objections,  that  in  this 
estimate  of  the  future,  the  rule  has  been  obtained 
by  a  fair  comparison  of  the  present  with  the  past. 
Every  estimate  with  regard  to  the  future  is  a 
speculation,  and  in  the  very  term  speculation 
uncertainty  is  implied.  But  he,  who  derives  his 
standard  from  the  present  and  the  past,  is  more 
likely  to  be  right  than  he,  who  departs  from  that 
standard.  If  the  future  does  not  not  conform  to 
it,  the  variation  is  occasioned  by  a  contingency, 


*  It  would  be  more  strictly  accurate  and  more  favourable  to  an  estimate 
of  the  future  increase  of  the  city,  to  consider  these  four  periods  as  a  single 
period  of  thirty-five  years,  and  to  assign  to  every  future  period  of  thirty- 
five  years  the  same  number  of  duplications,  which  took  place  in  the 
former.  According  to  this  mode,  the  population  of  the  city  would  double 
in  about  fifteen  years  and  a  half ;  and  this  has  been  thereAl  increase.  But 
here  again,  as  in  other  cases,  the  lowest  standard  has  been  assumed. 


95 


which  is  in  its  nature  not  susceptible  of  being 
foretold.  But  in  departing  from  that  standard, 
there  is  no  other,  which  can  be  obtained  by  any 
legitimate  course  of  reasoning ;  because,  in  aban¬ 
doning  fact,  recourse  must  be  had  to  conjecture  ; 
and  he,  who  supposes  a  variation  of  one  per  cent, 
from  it,  is  as  likely  to  err  as  he,  who  supposes  a 
similar  variation  of  99  per  cent.  The  supposi¬ 
tion,  therefore,  that  the  city  of  New- York  will 
never  increase  beyond  its  present  dimensions,  is 
just  as  capable  of  being  supported  by  fact  or 
reasoning,  as  the  supposition,  that  the  rate  of 
increase  will  be  ten  or  fifty  per  cent,  lower  than 
has  been  stated,  unless  it  can  be  established  that 
the  influence  of  some  principle  now  in  operation 
is  to  be  diminished  or  discontinued.* 

In  the  foregoing  estimate  of  the  future  increase 
of  New- York  no  reference  has  been  made  to 
wealth  and  resources,  because  there  are  no  cer¬ 
tain  data  for  an  estimate,  with  regard  to  their 
augmentation.  It  may,  however,  be  asserted 
that  the  proportion,  in  which  population  and 


*  In  estimating  the  future  increase  of  the  city  of  New-York  the  only 
real  ground  of  difference  between  different,  speculators  would  be  in  calcu¬ 
lating  the  influence  of  new  or  accessary  powers.  The  estimate  made 
above  abandons  all  consideration  of  such  powers,  and  proceeds  upon  the 
lowest  rate  of  increase,  according  to  the  most  unfavourable  standard.  A 
more  moderate  calculation  could  not  be  made  upon  any  imaginable  data, 
and  to  assume  a  lower  standard  would  be  to  convert  an  estimate  founded 
upon  certain  principles  into  one  of  mere  hypothesis. 


resources  increase,  is  more  uniform  in  the  United 
States  than  elsewhere,  in  consequence  of  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  large  establishments  of  every  kind,  and  of 
great  masses  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  single  in¬ 
dividual.  In  a  country,  where  the  spirit  of  society 
and  the  spirit  of  established  political  institutions  are 
both  adverse  to  monopoly,  and  where  it  is  the  regu¬ 
lar  operation  of  law  to  dissolve  those  accumulations 
of  wealth,  which  are  the  fruit  of  superior  industry 
and  talents,  an  increase  of  wealth  necessarily 
carries  with  it  a  nearly  uniform  increase  of  popu¬ 
lation.  Property  may  be  as  abundant  as  in  other 
countries ;  but  its  effects  are  less  apparent, 
because  it  is  more  diffused.  Wherever  property 
exists  in  large  masses  a  much  greater  portion  of 
it  is  invested  in  objects  of  ostentation  and  luxury 
than  in  countries,  where  it  exists  in  a  more 
uniform  distribution.  The  millions,  which  in  one 
country,  lie  unproductive  in  the  form  of  a  palace 
and  its  vast  array  of  decorations,  would  in  another 
take  the  shape  of  a  thousand  productive  invest¬ 
ments,  from  the  proceeds  of  which  as  many  fami¬ 
lies  would  derive  a  subsistence.  In  the  former, 
increase  of  wealth  does  not  necessarily  involve 
increase  of  population;  but  in  the  latter,  the  one 
is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  other ;  because 
the  wealth,  which  is  created,  is  as  rapidly  diffused ; 
and  in  every  such  addition  to  the  general  mass  of 


resources  is  contained  the  principle  of  a  further 
increase  of  inhabitants.*  It  may,  therefore,  be 
stated  as  a  principle,  that,  so  long  as  the  operation 
of  law  upon  property  in  the  United  States  is 
uniform,  the  multiplication  of  men  and  means 
will  bear  nearly  a  regular  proportion  to  each 
other. 


CONCLUSION. 

The  investigations,  which  have  been  made  in 
this  sketch,  have  not,  as  was  stated  in  the  preface, 
contemplated  any  detailed  exhibition  of  the  re¬ 
sources  of  the  city  of  New-York.  The  limits 
assigned  to  it  rendered  such  an  object  impracti¬ 
cable.  It  proceeded  upon  the  supposition,  that 
the  importance  of  the  city,  in  its  relations  with 
the  country  at  large,  was  not  generally  under¬ 
stood,  and  with  the  design  of  presenting  the 


%  The  truth  of  this  proposition  will  be  obvious  upon  stating,  and  ex¬ 
amining  the  grounds  of  the  converse — an  increase  of  population  will 
necessarily  involve  an  increase  of  wealth.  This  must  take  place  in 
countries  where  property  is  generally  diffused,  but  it  is  not  necessarily  the 
case,  where  it  is  preserved  in  large  masses  by  the  force  of  law.  in  the 
latter,  numerous  classes  of  dependants  are  the  usual  companions  of  great 
capitalists  and  large  establishments;  and  the  common  result  of  the  fall  of 
one  of  these  is  to  consign  a  whole  district  to  want  and  suffering.  But  in 
the  United  States,  where  no  such  disparities  exist,  where  the  accumula¬ 
tions  of  one  generation  melt  away  in  the  next  into  the  common  mass,  the 
absolute  dependence  of  man  upon  man  is  almost  unknown,  and  every  member 
of  society  must  necessarily  rely  upon  his  little  stock  of  wealth.  This  con¬ 
dition  of  property  may  be  expected  to  continue,  so  long  as  we  are  without 
a  rule  of  primogeniture  and  a  system  of  entails,  which  were  cast  off  with 
the  other  badges  of  our  dependence  on  a  regal  state. 


98 


causes  of  its  prosperity — past,  by  historical  refer 
ences,  and  future,  founded  upon  existing  facts — 
as  briefly  as  possible. 

There  is  no  instance  on  record,  ancient  or 
modern,  of  so  rapid  a  growth  as  this  city  has  had 
since  its  liberation  from  the  embarrassments  of 
colonial  servitude;  and  it  is  confidently  believed 
that  its  growth  will  continue  undiminished  till  it 
transcends  the  bounds  of  every  commercial  t  ity 
in  Europe.  The  minutest  circumstance  con¬ 
nected  with  its  rise  and  progress  is,  therefore, 
valuable :  and  the  author  will  be  amply  indemni¬ 
fied  for  the  few  pains  he  has  taken,  if  any  facts 
he  has  collected,  or  any  suggestion,  which  he  has 
ventured  to  make  in  the  course  of  his  inquiry, 
prove  of  the  least  use  to  those,  who  may  have 
leisure  to  give  the  subject  a  full  examination 


APPENDIX. 


(A.) 

It  has  been  seen  by  a  statement  of  the  Canal  Commis¬ 
sioners,  that  the  revenue  of  the  canal  fund  will  be  adequate  to 
discharge  the  regular  accumulations  of  interest  on  the  sums 
loaned  to  execute  the  work,  and  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  to 
refund  the  principal  of  these  sums.  A  new  capital  will  be 
created,  therefore,  to  the  amount  of  the  sums  loaned ;  and  a 
further  new  capital  to  the  amount  of  the  difference,  in  which 
the  interest  of  these  sums  is  exceeded  by  the  net  profits  of  the 
system.  Monies  applied  to  purposes  of  internal  improve¬ 
ment,  where  merely  the  interest  of  the  sums  expended  is  regu¬ 
larly  paid  by  the  profits  of  the  works,  in  which  they  are  invested, 
stand  precisely  on  the  ground  of  ordinary  investments,  unless 
the  improvement  affords  facilities  for  the  application  of  the  public 
industry  to  objects  of  profit  or  convenience.  In  this  case,  it  has 
a  value,  which  is  not  susceptible  of  being  reduced  to  numerical 
precision.  But  investments,  which  discharge  the  interest  and 
ultimately  reimburse  the  principal  of  the  sums  employed  consti¬ 
tute  an  increase  of  capital  equal  and  generally  superior  to  their 
own  amount.  To  illustrate  these  observations  by  applying  them 
to  the  canal  system : — The  sums,  which  are  applied  to  the 
execution  of  the  work  are  a  capital  withdrawn  by  the  individ¬ 
uals  who  loan  them  to  the  state,  from  some  productive  employ¬ 
ment  ;  but,  to  induce  those  individuals  to  make  the  transfer,  the 
profits  of  that  employment  must  be  less  or  the  risks  greater  than 
of  the  employment,  which  is  offered  by  the  state.  The  act  of 
transfer,  is  therefore,  a  gain  to  the  individuals.  As  soon  as  the 
work  is  completed,  a  profit  is  rendered  equal  to  the  interest, 
which  the  state  contracted  to  pay.  As  long  as  the  new  invest- 


100 


ment  atiords  the  same  profit  as  the  old,  there  can  be  no  pecu¬ 
niary  gain  or  loss,  either  to  the  state  or  individuals.  But  the 
increased  industry  which  the  work  puts  in  operation  gradually 
raises  the  amount  of  profits  above  the  amount  of  interest,  and 
the  excess  goes  to  the  reimbursement  of  the  sums  expended  in 
its  execution.  The  process  of  extinguishment  is  the  more  rapid, 
because  by  the  force  of  well-known  laws  of  numbers,  every 
reduction  of  the  principal  involves  a  reduction  of  the  future 
interest,  and  the  sum  of  both  is  the  principle  of  the  ratio,  upon 
which  the  future  reduction  proceeds.  As  soon  as  the  sums 
loaned  by  the  state  are  reimbursed,  the  individuals,  from  whom 
the  loans  are  obtained,  are  restored  to  their  previous  condition, 
by  being  put  again  in  possession  of  the  capitals  withdrawn, 
together  with  the  regular  profits  on  their  employment.  The 
state  is  in  possession  of  the  work  executed  by  the  agency  of 
those  capitals,  and  here  the  principal  accession  of  wealth  is 
visible.  The  state  has  incurred  no  expense,  the  work  having 
paid  for  itself.  That  portion  of  the  profits  of  the  work-  there¬ 
fore  which  equals  the  interest  of  all  the  sums  expended  on  it, 
represents  a  capital  invested  in  the  work  to  the  amount  of  all 
those  sums.  This  is  obviously  a  newly-created  capital.  The 
portion  of  the  profits,  to  which  we  have  just  referred  is  not 
in  strictness  (though  in  effect  it  is,)  a  new  capital  but  must  be 
considered  as  reserved  from  this  estimate  in  the  nature  of 
interest  on  the  new  capital  invested  in  the  work.  But  the  resi¬ 
due  of  the  profits,  that  is  the  excess  over  the  amount  of  such  a 
portion  as  is  equal  to  the  interest  on  the  sums  expended,  is  also  a 
new  capital,  a  capital  constantly  increasing  in  a  ratio  founded 
upon  the  annual  excess.  These  details  are  very  simple  so  much 
so,  that  to  some  it  may  seem  unnecessary  to  state  them.  But  they 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  observation — that,  if  the  estimate  of  the 
canal  commissioners  with  regard  to  the  extinction  of  the  canal  debt, 
be  not  overrated,  (and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  it  is  not) 
the  effect  of  the  surplus  proceeds  of  that  work  must  be  to  render 
the  state  of  New- York  more  prosperous,  and  capable  of  greater 
achievements  in  proportion  to  her  numbers,  than  any  nation 
which  now  exists. 


it  is  not  an  uncommon  argument  with  manufacturers,  that 
many  of  the  branches  of  industry,  in  which  they  are  concerned, 
suffered  immense  losses  in  consequence  of  the  decay  of  manu¬ 
facturing  establishments  at  the  close  of  the  last  war,  and,  on 
that  account,  have  claims  on  the  other  departments  of  industry 
for  present  encouragement.  It  will  appear,  upon  examination, 
that,  as  an  argument  in  favour  of  any  such  claim,  the  position  is 
altogether  destitute  of  force,  inasmuch  as  the  capital  invested  in 
domestic  manufactures  during  the  late  war  was  principally  drawn 
from  the  commercial  capital,  which  had  been  diverted  from  its 
accustomed  employment  by  a  long  course  of  restriction.  That 
it  could  have  been  drawn  from  no  other  source  will  be  apparent 
from  a  train  of  very  simple  reasoning.  Before  the  adoption  of 
the  restrictive  systems,  which  preceded  the  late  war;  the  capital 
of  the  country  was  distributed  in  a  beneficial  proportion  among 
the  various  departments  of  industry.  Commerce  and  navigation 
had  their  share,  and  so  had  agriculture  and  manufactures.  The 
first  effect  of  those  restrictive  measures  was  to  occasion  a  total 
revulsion  in  commercial  industry  by  altogether  arresting  its 
operations.  Agriculture  was  checked  to  an  inferior  extent,  be¬ 
cause  the  amount  of  decrease  would  only  be  in  proportion  to  the 
degree,  in  which  it  was  subservient  to  the  supply  of  foreign 
demands  ;  and  even  this  decrease  would  soon  be  compensated 
by  the  increased  demand  of  an  augmenting  population.  Manu¬ 
factures  alone,  by  the  diminution  of  foreign  imports,  were  stimu¬ 
lated  in  proportion  to  the  decline  of  the  other  branches  of  industry. 
The  operation  of  these  causes  upon  the  capital  of  the  country 
depends  on  very  obvious  principles,  and  may  be  seen  at  a  glance* 
A  portion  of  the  capital  invested  in  commerce  and  navigation, 
becoming  totally  unproductive,  would  immediately  seek,  wher¬ 
ever  the  nature  of  the  investment  would  admit  of  transfer,  new 
objects  of  employment.  It  could  not  go  to  agriculture,  because 
the  capital  employed  in  that  department  of  industry  would  already 
exceed  the  demand,  and  a  portion  of  the  latter  would,  for  the 
t  ime,  be  withdrawn  from  employment,  or  the  profits  on  the  whole 
amount  would  be  diminished.  The  capital  withdrawn  from 

14 


102 


commercial  operations  could,  therefore,  only  procure  an  invest¬ 
ment  in  manufactures,  the  capital  already  employed  in  the  latter 
being  unequal  to  the  demand  for  its  productions,  and  of  course 
yielding  a  higher  rate  of  profit  than  any  other  source  of  produc¬ 
tion.  Transfers  of  commercial  capital  were  consequently  made 
to  manufactures  ;  immense  establishments  were  created  at  war 
prices  ;  and  on  the  recurrence  of  peace,  the  profits  of  the  capi¬ 
tal  employed  were  so  reduced  from  the  influx  of  foreign  commo¬ 
dities,  that  many  of  these  establishments  were  abandoned  leaving 
the  whole  amount  of  capital  invested  a  loss  to  manufacturing, 
and  also  to  commercial,  industry,  from  the  latter  of  which  it  was 
originally  drawn.  This  loss  might,  therefore,  as  well  be  de¬ 
plored  by  commercial  men  as  by  manufacturers.  It  certainly 
cannot  constitute  a  claim  on  the  part  of  the  latter  for  sacrifices 
in  their  favour  by  any  other  class  of  society ;  and  it  is  with  a 
view  to  establish  this  position  only,  that  the  subject  has  been 
considered.  If  instances  should  be  brought  to  counteract  this 
conclusion,  the  reply  is,  that  the  general  reasoning,  from  which 
it  is  drawn,  cannot  be  confuted  by  opposing  to  it  the  testimony 
of  particular  facts  ;  for  these  differ  from  general  principles  only 
in  being  derived  from  a  more  narrow  and  limited  experience. 

(C.) 

For  several  years  subsequent  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  of  the  United  States,  the  relations  of  the  country  with  foreign 
states  were  such  that  its  labour  was  more  beneficially  employed 
in  agriculture  than  in  manufactures.  There  was  an  urgent  de¬ 
mand  in  Europe  for  the  products  of  our  agricultural  industry  ; 
and  the  United  States,  having  the  use  of  more  land,  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  their  population,  than  any  European  nation,  was  not 
under  the  necessity,  in  supplying  that  demand  of  having 
recourse  to  poorer  soils  at  an  increased  cost  of  production. 
But  the  condition  of  the  country  now  is  altogether  different. 
To  have  rendered  our  industry  permanently  tributary,  in  the 
same  proportion  with  regard  to  its  amount,  to  the  countries  of 
Europe,  it  would  have  been  necessary  that  the  foreign  demand 
for  the  products  of  our  agriculture  should  regularly  extend  in 


103 


ratio  of  the  increase  of  our  population.  But,  while  that  demand 
has  diminished  our  increase  in  numbers  has  been  immense; 
and  population  may  be  said  to  have  reached  a  point  beyond 
which  every  further  increase  diminishes  the  relative  quantity  of 
our  agricultural  productions,  and  stimulates  the  establishment, 
and  growth  of  domestic  manufactures.*  The  productions  of  the 
earth  in  every  country,  where  there  are  vacant  lands,  or  a  further 
power  of  production  in  cultivated  lands  are  limited  by  the  de¬ 
mand,  and  not  by  the  powers  of  the  soil.  Where  the  demand  is 
already  supplied  agriculture  will  only  be  extended  to  keep  pace 
with  an  increase  of  population  ;  and  as  the  whole  labour  of  this 
increased  population  applied  to  the  cultivation  of  the  earth, 
would  yield  a  greater  amount  of  the  articles  of  subsistence  than 
would  be  required  to  supply  its  own  wants  the  excess  of  labour 
would,  from  the  operation  of  natural  laws,  seek  an  employment 
in  commercial  or  manufacturing  industry.  This  is  precisely  the 
condition  of  the  United  States ;  and,  as  commercial  operations 
can  only  be  enlarged  by  an  extension  of  the  foreign  market  for 
our  own  productions  the  excess  of  labour,  just  adverted  to  above 
the  amount  required  to  sustain  the  natural  increase  of  popula- 
lation,  will  necessarily  be  applied  to  the  production  of  those 
articles  of  manufacture,  which  the  country  demands,  and  of 
which  it  furnishes  the  materials.  From  these  premises  it  fol¬ 
lows,  that  every  farther  increase  of  population  in  the  United  States 
must  diminish  the  relative  amount  of  agricultural  productions, 
and  promote  the  extension  of  manufacturing  establishments. 
This  fact  gives  to  the  latter  an  advantage  over  the  other  divi¬ 
sions  of  industry,  which  deserves  to  be  considered  in  every  ques¬ 
tion  affecting  them.  From  the  operation  of  the  same  causes, 

*  If  any  occurrence  should  take  place,  by  which  a  demand  should  be 
created  in  Europe  for  the  products  of  our  agriculture,  manufactures  would 
be  in  a  degree  retarded  in  their  growth,  and  a  portion  of  capital  might  be 
diverted  from  the  latter  to  the  former,  because  there  is  still  a  considerable 
amount  of  unoccupied  land  of  great  fertility,  to  which  recourse  can  be  had 
without  increased  expense  of  cultivation.  But  such  an  occurrence  is  a 
mere  contingency,  which  is  not  perhaps  likely  to  take  place,  and  which,  if 
it  were,  could  not  be  permitted  to  affect  the  result  of  any  calculation  pro¬ 
ceeding  upon  general  principles. 


104 


our  exports  of  raw  materials,  our  importations  of  foreign  manu  ¬ 
factures  and  our  revenue  upon  the  latter,  will  increase  in  a  ratio- 
less  than  population.  This  result  was  anticipated  and  pointed 
out  by  Albert  Gallatin,  in  a  sketch  of  the  finances  of  the  United 
States,  as  early  as  the  year  1796.  And  such,  in  fact,  is  the 
natural  result  of  the  laws  of  labour  in  every  country,  where  there 
is  a  rapidly  augmenting  population  and  where  no  artificial 
causes  are  brought  in  to  violate  their  operation. 


i’iin  ENb. 


y 


* 


i 


ii  iC 


